Dustin Henderson and the Secret Crush
by someone.else.before
Summary: (Sequel to El Byers and the Secret Crush) Dustin is head over heels for a girl in his class, and he asks Eleven to use her powers to help him in his quest to win her over. Also includes lots of slice-of-life cuteness and Mileven fluff.
1. Chapter 1

It was a sunny Saturday in April, 1984, and after spending most of the winter cooped up inside playing Dungeons and Dragons, Will, Lucas, Dustin, Mike, and Eleven were all enjoying the beginnings of spring weather at the old Hawkins Park Playground. Lucas and Will were challenging each other to feats of strength on the jungle-gym, and Mike, Dustin, and El were playing on the swing-set. Mike was standing behind El, helping push her as she swung, and Dustin was sitting beside them, showing El how to pump her legs in the air so the swing would go higher.

In the distance, they spotted a group of girls from Hawkins Middle who settled down at a picnic table and started playing clapping games. Dustin immediately stopped swinging and turned around, his face in his hands. "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god," he mumbled to himself, sounding terrified. "Is she looking at me? Mike, is she looking at me?"

Mike rolled his eyes. "Why would she be looking at you? She's all the way on the other side of the playground."

El stopped swinging as well, and looked from one boy to the other, hopelessly confused. "Who are you talking about?"

"That girl over there," Mike pointed, causing Dustin to panic and swat at Mike's arm, afraid someone would see, "Sylvia Davis, the one in the yellow dress."

"Is she wearing that dress again?" asked Dustin, turning around to peek. His eyes went wide. "I'm going to die," he groaned, "it's too much."

"What's wrong with Dustin?" El whispered to Mike. The boy was always a bit dramatic, but this was a new level.

"He has a crush on her," Mike whispered back, grinning.

El gasped. "Crush?" She and Mike had talked about the concept of _crushes_ a few months ago, finally (after much awkwardness and embarrassment) admitting their feelings for each other, but she hadn't realized it could happen to the other boys.

"WRONG!" Dustin exclaimed. "I don't just have a crush, Wheeler. This is love. I know it."

El looked puzzled, and Mike guffawed. "You've barely spoken to each other. And it's only been a few weeks since you started liking her. Don't be an idiot, Henderson."

Dustin sighed dramatically. "You just don't understand. She's _perfect._ " His eyes were glazed over as he spoke. "She's nice to everyone, she loves making jokes, she has a Star Wars lunch box, and she's the prettiest girl in Hawkins."

Mike shrugged. "That's debatable," he murmured, gazing down at the back of El's head.

El didn't hear him. "Prettier than Nancy?" she asked Dustin, shocked. She squinted her eyes, trying to get a better look at his dream girl. Sylvia had curly black hair and stood several inches taller than her friends. She was talking excitedly, swinging her gangly tan arms back and forth, and every few minutes she would explode in peals of laughter. El smiled. She still didn't have much experience with girls her age, but this Sylvia seemed like someone she might like to know.

Mike gave his friend a little shove. "You should go talk to her!"

Dustin looked like he was about to throw up. "Absolutely not. Not happening. No way, Jose."

"Why no?" asked El. She loved talking to Mike, so why wouldn't Dustin want to talk to his crush?

"Because," Dustin explained, rolling his eyes, "what if I make a fool of myself and she laughs in my face?" He shook his head. "Too risky. Better to just stay here until I can figure out if she likes me back."

"Well, you're not going to figure that out by just sitting here and staring at her, man," Mike pointed out.

Dustin sighed and spun around slowly on the swing, dragging his sneakers through the mulch. "I know… it's hopeless," he muttered.

Mike felt sorry for his friend, but he also thought he was being a little ridiculous. He was mostly enjoying the chance to have some payback for all the times Dustin had teased him over his crush on El. Suddenly, Mike had an idea, causing an evil grin to appear on his face. He whispered in El's ear and she nodded.

The gauzy purple scarf draped over Sylvia's neck seemed to take on a life of its own, apparently caught in the wind. It fluttered up into the air and then settled on the ground right next to the swing set.

With a squeal of surprise, Sylvia came hurrying after it – headed straight towards them. Mike chuckled and nudged Dustin, who still had his back turned. "Hey, Dustin."

"What?" he asked, morosely.

"Sylvia's coming over here."

Dustin nearly fell backwards off the swing. He looked around and saw his crush on her way towards them. He seemed about as frightened as he had when Troy had pulled a knife on him back in November. "Shit, shit, shit, shit," he muttered. "El, please make me disappear, can you do that?"

Eleven shook her head, confused, but Mike reassured her. "Don't listen to him, he's just being a baby."

Dustin stood up and leaned against the pole of the swing set, his arms crossed, his head down, trying to look as cool as possible. Then he immediately sat back down, having apparently decided looking cool was never going to work for him. Mike was having trouble keeping a straight face. El was looking straight at Sylvia, curious to learn more about her.

Sylvia grabbed her scarf up off the ground. "Gotcha!" She looked over at El and smiled. "This thing is always getting away from me."

Eleven nodded, not sure what to say.

Sylvia studied El with some interest. "I love your hair!" she enthused. "I wish my mom would let me get a pixie cut like that. You're so lucky."

El was completely shocked. "You want hair – like mine?" She ran her hand over her head self-consciously. "But yours is… so pretty…"

Sylvia grinned. "Aww, thank you!" She stuck out her hand. "I'm Sylvia, by the way."

El took her hand and shook it awkwardly – she hadn't had much practice with handshakes. "I'm El," she said, a beat later than normal. It was still hard for her to remember all the rules of social interaction.

Sylvia either didn't notice El's shyness or pretended not to. "Nice to meet you, El!"

Suddenly Dustin blurted out, "You shouldn't cut your hair!" Sylvia, El, and Mike turned to stare at him.

"Huh?" said Sylvia.

"I mean… that is… um…" Dustin said, turning tomato-red, "Your hair looks, um, nice, um, the way it is, so…" he trailed off, mortified.

"Ookaay," Sylvia chuckled, "That was random. It's _my_ hair."

Dustin shuffled his feet. "I know," he mumbled.

"How would you like it if I came over and just –" she walked behind Dustin and grabbed a fistful of his curly hair, making a scissor motion with her other hand, "chopped all this off." She grinned at El. "How would he look with a Mohawk?

"What's a Mohawk?" asked El. Mike smiled. He was proud of her for asking the question in front of someone she had never met before. Usually she seemed to keep a list of questions stored up in her head and then pepper him with them as soon as they were alone.

Sylvia shrugged. "It's that silly hairstyle where the guy shaves off all his hair except a strip at the top and then makes that part poof straight up." She demonstrated on Dustin, who looked like he was choking or maybe on the verge of cardiac arrest.

 _Oh my god, she's touching me._

"Dustin's hair is too curly for that to work, though," she said, thoughtfully biting her lip as she combed through his curls with her fingers.

 _Oh my god, she knows my name._

From the other side of the playground, a cry went up. "Sylvia! Are you coming with us or what?"

Sylvia took her hands out of Dustin's hair, a light blush on her cheeks. She shook her head slightly, as if to clear it. "Coming!" she shouted. She ran halfway to her friends, then paused and ran back. "Actually," she said, smiling at Eleven, "We're going to the drugstore to buy makeup and magazines and stuff. Do you want to come, too?"

Looking like a deer in the headlights, El turned to catch Mike's eye. She used her abilities to project her words into his head without anyone else hearing. _"Is it okay? Should I go?"_

He grinned and nodded slightly, trying to give her the confidence she needed.

El turned back to Sylvia and smiled. "Um, okay."

"Yay!" Sylvia exclaimed. She clapped her hands and linked arms with the shy girl, pulling her along. "Let's go!"


	2. Chapter 2

Mike felt so proud of Eleven as he watched her walk arm in arm with Sylvia over to the other girls. He knew she had been wanting to make more friends, but it was hard for her to open up to people, and he and the guys weren't exactly role models of sociability. Case in point: Dustin, who was currently clutching at the chains of his swing and practically hyperventilating.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god…"

Lucas and Will walked over from the jungle-gym, tired but still laughing. "Where's El?" Will asked. "And what's wrong with him?" added Lucas.

"Two words," Mike said. "Sylvia Davis." He gestured to where El and the girls were now standing, El staying slightly back from the group but still smiling as Sylvia spoke excitedly.

Lucas chuckled and sat down in the swing El had been using. "You okay, buddy?" he asked, addressing Dustin.

"It was _mental_ ," said Dustin, his face in his hands. "She started talking to El, and then I said something really stupid –" (" _Not_ a surprise," said Lucas, earning him an elbow in the ribs) "and then she started TOUCHING MY HAIR for NO REASON and I just sat there like an idiot and then she invited El to go do some girly stuff together… oh and also she KNEW MY NAME! Like, did you know Sylvia Davis knew _my_ name? What is happening…"

"I mean, Hawkins is a pretty small town," Lucas pointed out, causing the other three boys to glare at him.

"It was weird because Mike and El and I were just talking about her and then suddenly her scarf blew over here, so she ran over to get it…" Dustin said. Mike couldn't keep a straight face, suddenly letting out an extremely uncharacteristic giggle. As soon as Dustin heard that, the pieces clicked into place.

"You – you _traitor!_ " he exclaimed, fake-punching Mike in the side. "You and Eleven set me up, didn't you?"

Mike tried to block his friend's hits, but it was difficult when he was doubled over laughing. "You should've seen your face! It was hilarious. Besides," he said, ducking for cover behind an amused Lucas, "we were just trying to help."

Dustin rolled his eyes. "Sure."

"Well, this is good, right?" offered Will. "El gets to make some new friends, and you'll get a chance to spend more time with Sylvia."

"Yeah but…" suddenly Dustin went pale. "What if El tells her everything?"

"You mean, about the upside down and the government agents and stuff?" asked Lucas. "She knows better than to talk about that. Hopper and Joyce helped her come up with a cover story and everything."

"No, stupid, I mean, what if she tells Sylvia that I have a crush on her?" Dustin flopped on the ground. "I am so dead."

"El wouldn't do that!" Mike said, defending her.

"Seriously, Mike?" said Dustin, looking frustrated. "I know she's your girlfriend and all," (Mike blushed and shook his head – they hadn't made anything official, not yet anyway) "but you have to admit, the girl _cannot_ keep a secret. And we didn't even tell her that it _was_ a secret, so who's to say she isn't telling them all about it right now?" He moaned. "I'm going to have to transfer schools."

Suddenly Mike looked away, distracted. "Choir?" he asked.

"What?" Dustin said, surprised.

"Oh, sorry, El's talking to me," Mike explained. "She wants to know what a choir is." He smiled and began to answer her. "A choir is a group…"

"El!" Dustin interjected, shouting in Mike's ear. "El, can you hear me?"

"Dustin, get off of me. She can hear all of us fine, alright, you don't have to shout at me," Mike said, irritated.

"Oh, okay, well, Eleven, if you can hear me, I just wanted to tell you… please, please, _please_ don't tell Sylvia I have a crush on her, okay?"

Mike nodded. "She says she promises not to tell." Dustin let out a sigh of relief.

"Sorry about that, El," Mike said, rolling his eyes. "A choir is a group of people who sing together." He smiled and nodded. "Yeah, exactly."

Mike paused and his face turned pink. He quickly turned away from his friends and looked down at the grass. "M- me too," he murmured, embarrassed but wearing a dopey smile all the same. "Bye."

"Oooooh," teased Lucas, "did she just drop the L-word or what?"

"Shut up," said Mike, giving his friend an elbow. "It's not like that."

"Well, then, what did she say?" Lucas asked.

" _That,_ " declared Mike, picking up his backpack and walking away towards their bikes, ready to head for home, "is none of your business."

* * *

Eleven was used to the way her friends liked to joke around and argue, but nothing could have prepared her for the way these girls talked – endlessly moving from one topic to the next, barely pausing for breath. Sylvia, especially, never seemed to run out of things to talk about. They walked along the street beneath the huge Hawkins elm trees, laughing and chatting happily. Melissa and Kate were singing some song they knew from camp, while Sylvia told El her whole life story, which was pretty ordinary but fascinated Eleven all the same.

"And I have two dogs, Rusty and Lulu," Sylvia was saying, "Lulu is a pug and Rusty is a big old mutt that we adopted. They are best friends and it's soooo cute, you don't even know! And I have a younger brother named Connor, he's basically a baby still, and my older sister is Leanna and she goes to Indiana State. She plays basketball there on scholarship." Sylvia frowned. "Everyone thought I'd be good at basketball, too, because I'm her sister and we're both really tall, but I hated it. I like swimming better." Sylvia looked over at El. "Do you play sports?"

El shook her head. "No," she admitted, "I don't know how." She shuffled her feet.

"Oh," said Sylvia. "That's because you were home-schooled, right?"

Eleven shrugged, then nodded. Joyce had taught her that word so that she could explain to people why she wasn't at school during the day like the rest of the kids her age. "I'm adopted," she offered, suddenly.

Sylvia's eyes widened. "Really? Is that weird? Do you want to find your birth parents some day?" Almost as soon as she had said it, she clapped a hand over her mouth, embarrassed. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that. Ignore me, I'm such a dolt."

El shook her head. "It's okay." She took a deep breath, trying to think of the best way to explain where she came from without frightening Sylvia – or breaking her promise to Hopper and Joyce. "My mother is gone," she said, causing Sylvia to wince in sympathy, "and my father is… a bad man." Sylvia didn't push further, simply nodding and twisting the fabric of her dress in her hand, feeling guilty about her stupid big mouth. Eleven shook her head and tried to focus on the present. "But now Joyce is my mama and Will and Jonathan are my brothers!" El commented, smiling.

Melissa, Sylvia's friend, overheard. "You live with the Byers?" she asked, curious. "Is it true that Will faked his own death?"

Sylvia glared at her friend. "What kind of question is that, Mel?"

"No, he didn't," El insisted. "He was lost." Her tone was so serious it made the other girls shiver, and Sylvia changed the subject.

They reached the drugstore and headed straight for the makeup aisle. "Do your parents – I mean, does Ms. Byers let you wear makeup?" Sylvia asked.

Eleven shrugged. "I don't have any."

"Oh my gosh," squealed Kate, "can I give you a makeover?"

"Make… over?" El repeated, squinting.

"You don't know what a makeover is?" asked Kate, surprised.

"It's letting someone change your look," explained Sylvia. "Like giving you a new hairstyle and new clothes and doing your makeup."

El nodded, remembering when Mike and Dustin and Lucas dressed her up.

"Do you like red lipstick or pink?" asked Kate.

El shrugged.

"Let me see your hand," Kate said. "I need to figure out what colors will go with your skin tone."

"Kate likes to pretend she's a makeup artist," explained Melissa, rolling her eyes.

Hesitantly, El held out her hand. Suddenly, Kate grabbed it, noticing the number on her wrist. El had to force herself not to pull away, trying to stay calm.

"Is that a tattoo?" Kate asked, scandalized yet impressed.

"What? Let me see," exclaimed Melissa. The girls peered down at El's arm while she stood there awkwardly, uncomfortable at the attention.

"Woah," said Sylvia. "That's so hardcore. Did it hurt?"

El bit her lip. She didn't really remember having the number stamped on – it must have happened when she was quite young – but that wasn't exactly something the girls would understand. And, of course, it _had_ hurt, that tattoo, but not in the way Sylvia meant. So she just said, "Yes."

Kate scrunched up her nose. "Yeesh. I could never do that. What does it mean, anyway?"

Eleven looked down, unsure how to answer.

"Is it your favorite number or something?" offered Melissa. El nodded.

Sylvia laughed. "That's so weird – eleven is Michael Wheeler's favorite number, too."

Melissa and Kate stared at their friend. "How do you know that?" asked Melissa. "She must have a crush on him," teased Kate. Eleven's eyes widened and she felt a strange unhappy feeling in her stomach. No one was supposed to have a crush on Mike but _her_.

Sylvia rolled her eyes. "Stop it guys, you're imagining things." Her calm denial made El feel extremely relieved. "Mike sits next to me in English class and he wrote some poem last week about the number eleven or whatever, I didn't really understand it but the teacher made him read it aloud and said it was good."

"He wrote about… eleven?" El asked, her eyes sparkling and her cheeks turning pink. Sylvia nodded, catching on immediately.

"Speaking of crushes… do you and _Mike_ have a thing going on?" asked Sylvia, grinning.

"A thing?" asked El, confused.

"Like, are you together?" asked Kate. "Do you _like_ like him?"

Eleven tilted her head, making sure she understood the question.

"I have a crush on Mike," she said, seriously, "and Mike has a crush on me."

Kate giggled and Melissa let out an _aww_. Sylvia clapped her hands. "That is so cute!" she squealed. "So he's basically your boyfriend? Oh my gosh, you are so lucky. I wish I had a boyfriend, but none of the boys at school like me. I'm just so _tall_ ," she sighed with regret.

El was about to object with "Dustin likes you," but she remembered the promise she had made and kept silent.

Kate rolled her eyes. "Sylvia, stop it. The boys at our school are all dweebs, anyway – oh, I mean, all the boys except Mike, sorry El – so it's like, they're not even worth it." She picked up one of the paperback romance novels from the store aisle. "Call me when there's a guy at Hawkins Middle like this," she sighed, gesturing to the cover, where a handsome man with bulging muscles stared stoically into the distance while gripping a glamorous-looking yet disheveled woman in his arms.

Sylvia giggled. "Oooh, I love those! Is that one about a pirate? Let me see." She grabbed the book and started reading the summary on the back, her voice full of imaginary drama.

 _"Ruthless scoundrel of the seas, James Indigo obeys only the Pirate's Code. The first rule is simple: stowaways walk the plank. But when he discovers the beautiful, passionate Lady Diana Mallory hiding in the cellar of his ship, he finds that some rules are made to be broken…"_

Kate and Melissa were howling with laughter within seconds, and Sylvia was struggling to keep a straight face. El laughed too, not totally sure what was going on but enjoying it all the same.

"Do you ever read romance novels, El?" asked Melissa, her face still red from laughing.

El shrugged. "I'm not… very good."

"At reading?" Melissa asked, surprised. El nodded, fidgeting uncomfortably.

"That's okay," Sylvia jumped in, looking sympathetic. "My sister has dyslexia, too." She thumbed through the stacks of books, looking for something. "Here, El!" she said. "Maybe you can try this one. It's in large print, so it'll be easier to read."

El nodded. The picture on the front looked kind of silly, and she wasn't sure larger print would help her much, but if these girls liked this book she would at least give it a try.

"Anyways," said Kate, "Let's go back to the make-up thing. I say, go for the pink lip-gloss. And then there's mascara, and eye-shadow, and blush…"

As it turned out, Eleven didn't have enough pocket money to buy the romance novel _and_ all the makeup Kate seemed to think she would need, so she ended up just getting the book and some pink lip-gloss. Kate was disappointed, but promised her that eventually she'd give her the best makeover ever. El wasn't sure that any "makeover" would be better than her first one, when Dustin and Lucas had given her Nancy's dress and Mike had sat on the bed with her and painted her face and called her pretty… but she was looking forward to it, all the same.


	3. Chapter 3

Mike and his friends were all hanging out in his basement, attempting to do homework but mostly goofing off, when El returned from her adventure. Mike had been expecting her to come by after the shopping trip, and had sort of hoped to be alone when she arrived, but Dustin was absolutely desperate to get the inside scoop from El about Sylvia. So Dustin had insisted on staying, and then of course Lucas and Will decided to stay too, not wanting to be left out.

Eleven knocked on the back door that led to the basement, using the secret knock that Will had taught her. Mike hurried to answer the door but Dustin got there first.

"El! What happened? Did you find out anything?" asked Dustin, practically jumping up and down in excitement.

Will rolled his eyes. "What Dustin means to say is, did you have a nice time?"

All Mike could say was, "Are… you wearing lip-gloss?"

El smiled and nodded and Mike felt a lump in his throat as he tried not to stare. Lucas guffawed and started making kissy noises behind his back.

El turned to answer Will. She was beaming. "It was fun," she said. "I liked Sylvia."

Dustin grinned. "I told you she was the best!" Mike shushed him.

"That is so great, El," Mike said, shaking himself out of his lip-gloss-induced distraction and giving her a hug. "I'm really proud of you," he told her, quietly in her ear.

"El's gonna end up being more popular than any of us," said Lucas, laughing.

"Can I ask about Sylvia now?" whined Dustin.

Mike rolled his eyes. "No one's stopping you."

"Okay, El, it's all on you," Dustin said, his voice full of hope. "Did she – did she say anything about me?"

El shook her head, and Dustin looked crestfallen. Then he rallied. "Okay, well, did you find out anything about her that we can use?"

"Use?" repeated El, unsure.

"Anything we can use to make her like me," Dustin explained.

"It doesn't work like that," Mike pointed out, but Dustin ignored him.

"Anything?" he repeated, looking at El hopefully. She shrugged, drawing a blank.

"Like, I don't know, did she tell you what kind of guy she likes?" Dustin suggested.

Eleven's eyes lit up and she dug through her backpack to find her new book. She handed it to Dustin, pointing at the cover. "Like this," she said.

"What the –"

"What is that?"

"What the hell is that?"

"Holy shit."

Mike, Will, Lucas, and Dustin all reacted at once. Will and Lucas looked deeply amused, while Mike was turning red and Dustin was groaning forlornly.

"Is it bad?" El asked Mike, worried by their reactions.

"No," Mike squeaked. "It's, just…"

"Kind of, for adults?" Will finished.

El shook her head. "Sylvia and Kate and Melissa aren't adults."

Will shrugged, not sure how to answer that.

Lucas could see that El needed a simpler explanation.

"It's a book about kissing," he said.

Now El was the one who was blushing. "Oh." Finally she understood why her friends had giggled so much over the book.

"If Sylvia likes guys like _that_ ," said Dustin, "I'm so screwed."

"Why?" asked El. (After watching the guys play Dungeons and Dragons so much, it was a phrase she knew well.)

"El, seriously. I look nothing like this guy. I'm _never_ going to look like this guy," Dustin said, gesturing to the cover. "I'm just some dork and she obviously likes big strong handsome hero types."

"You're strong," El pointed out. "You carried me before. And you are brave, and funny. And you have pretty eyes!" she said, smiling. Dustin blushed and Mike wrinkled his nose, a little annoyed despite himself. "I think Sylvia should like you," she announced.

"El is right," Will said, and Dustin chuckled.

"You think I have pretty eyes, too, Byers?" he asked, batting his lashes. Will swatted at him.

"Not what I meant! Just saying, you don't need to act like some tough, macho guy. Just be yourself and it'll work out."

"I don't know…" moaned Dustin. "You saw me this afternoon. I can barely _talk_ when she's around. She never would have even noticed me if El hadn't used her powers…" he said, trailing off as he stared at Eleven.

"Uh oh, I don't like that look," said Will, seeing Dustin's expression. "You're up to something."

"El? Will you help me?" Dustin asked, in an innocent voice.

She looked confused. "Help?"

"Don't agree unless he tells you what it is," advised Lucas.

Dustin sighed and decided to spill. "Listen El, I promise, I will never ask you for another favor for my WHOLE ENTIRE LIFE, okay? But you have to, you just _have to_ help me get Sylvia to like me."

El looked around at the group. "Why me?"

"Because you're a girl. And you have superpowers," Dustin said. She still looked unsure, so he went to drastic measures, falling on his knees and clasping her hands dramatically. "Please, please, please, please! I'm going to die otherwise."

El looked at Mike. "He's not going to _die_ ," he assured her, rolling his eyes.

Dustin stuck out his tongue in Mike's direction. "Stay out of this." Then he turned back to El. "El. El, seriously. If you promise to help me, I will bring you Eggos every day for a month."

"Tell him two months or nothing," advised Lucas.

"Shut up, Lucas," snapped Dustin. "So El, what do you say?" he asked, looking at her hopefully.

El smiled. "I will help, for you," she said, "and for Eggos."

Dustin grinned and wrapped her in a big bear hug. "You're the best!"

El giggled and hugged him back.

"Does anyone want to help me make dinner?" Mrs. Wheeler called down the stairs. "Michael?"

"Okay!" Mike shouted. He turned to El and smiled shyly. "Do you want to…?"

She grinned and nodded and skipped up the stairs behind him.

Karen was in the kitchen, holding Holly in one arm while she stirred a sauce pan with the other. "Oh, hello El!" she said. "I didn't realize you were here."

"Hi, Miss Karen," said El. "Hi, Holly!" She waved and Holly's big eyes crinkled up as she gave the older girl an adorable little smile. El was very popular with the baby for some reason – maybe because of the 'magic tricks' El did for her when the adults weren't watching, or maybe because Holly and El understood each other more than anybody realized, as two beings recently thrown into a new and confusing world yet still surrounded by an unbelievable amount of love.

"Okay, I need to give Holly a bath. Can you two cook up some pasta and stir the sauce a little while I'm gone?" Karen asked. "Try not to burn anything."

Mike nodded. "Sure, mom." She smiled and mussed his hair and hurried upstairs.

"What kind of pasta should we make, El?" Mike asked, rummaging through the cupboard. "We've got spaghetti, penne, bow-tie, angel-hair…"

"Angel hair?" El asked, her eyes wide.

"It's not real hair," Mike explained. "It's just a word for pasta that's long and super thin, see?" He showed her the box. "Should we make this kind?"

El nodded, so he grabbed a pot from the cabinet and filled it with water, setting it on the stove. "We have to boil the water first," he told her, turning on the heat. "It takes a little while…" he commented, going over by the sink to grab a wooden spoon. When he returned to the stove a second later, the water was bubbling like crazy and El was giggling. He rolled his eyes. "Show-off," he chuckled, tossing the pasta in the water. She watched with fascination as the brittle stick-like noodles began to soften as they cooked.

"Hey El," said Mike, quietly. "You know, you don't have to help Dustin with this crush thing if you don't want to."

She furrowed her brow. "But Dustin is my friend." _A friend is someone you'd do anything for._

"I know," he sighed, "but I feel like… you want to be friends with Sylvia, too, don't you?"

She nodded.

"Well…" Mike spoke thoughtfully, "she might not want you telling us everything you guys talk about. Sometimes… sometimes friends have to keep secrets, you know? And…" he sighed, "I know Dustin is very persistent, but I don't want you to feel like a spy or something. You should be able to have fun, and make new friends and be yourself. That's what's really important."

El felt a rush of gratitude towards Mike, for his protectiveness and the way he knew what was worrying her before she realized it herself.

"Mike, I know," she said, smiling and leaning against his side. "I want to make friends with Sylvia, but I want to help Dustin, too."

Mike put his arm around her shoulder and stared down at this incredible girl, so loyal and brave… and pretty… and wearing pink lip-gloss… His head started to swim a little and he was about to lean down and try for a kiss when a crackling sound alerted him to the fact that they had forgotten to stir the tomato sauce.

"It's starting to burn!" Mike exclaimed. "Hurry El, turn the heat down and stir the sauce a little, would you?" El nodded and quickly got to work. Meanwhile, Mike took out the strainer and balanced it over the sink. With some effort, he picked up the pasta pot off the stove, trying not to grunt at its weight. He started to pour the hot water into the strainer, but some of it splashed onto his right hand, making him curse and lose his grip. Luckily, instead of crashing to the ground, the pot simply floated in midair.

El rushed over and grabbed his hand. "Hurt?" she asked, a worried look on her face as she gazed at the red splotch on his skin. Mike noticed out of the corner of his eye that the wooden spoon was still stirring the saucepan on the stove. He smiled, trying to reassure her. "It's fine. The water was hot, but I didn't really get burned." He rubbed her hand comfortingly. "It's lucky you kept the pot from falling, though – that would have been a real mess."

Mike pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and stepped in close to El, his forehead furrowed in concentration. Gently, he began wiping away the blood that had dripped from her nose. After her face was clean, he placed a soft hand on her chin and carefully turned her head to the right and then the left, checking her ears for blood. This had become a ritual of theirs whenever El got a nosebleed, and it always made her feel warm and safe and so deeply, truly cared for that she could hardly stand it.

Mike still didn't know what exactly to make of her powers. They impressed him, of course – awed him, in fact – and he was grateful for all the many times she'd used them to rescue him or his friends. (He couldn't deny that he'd fallen a little bit in love with her when she broke Troy's arm with her mind.) He was glad, too, because having superpowers felt like something she deserved to enjoy, after all the awful stuff she had gone through. On the other hand, the after-effects she exhibited when she had stretched herself too thin – the sickly, bruised-looking skin, the bleeding, the mental and physical exhaustion – deeply, deeply worried him. And he didn't want her to feel like she had to rescue everyone or fix everything all the time. She was so much more than just her powers, and he wanted her to see that. But ultimately, it was up to her to decide when to use them, and how to use them – and it was up to him to be there to wipe the blood off her face, afterwards.

Even when her face was completely clean, Mike continued to stare at her and to hold her chin lightly in his hand, unable to pull away. Like a magnet, his lips drifted towards hers until she closed the gap.

Her new lip-gloss felt sticky and unfamiliar against his lips, but the strawberry flavoring made him smile. El liked strawberries almost as much as she liked Eggos, these days.

Still, he didn't think he would have minded even if she had tasted like black licorice. He liked kissing her that much.

"Is dinner almost ready?" Nancy called out as she hurried down the stairs. El and Mike had just barely enough time to separate and compose themselves before she found them in the kitchen.

"Oh, hey guys," Nancy said, looking at them with amused suspicion. "Whatcha doing?"

"…Cooking," Mike said, his voice just a little too high.

"Right," she said, smiling knowingly. "Well, if you're almost done, we should start setting the table. Is everybody staying for dinner?"

Mike nodded.

"Well, I'll set the table and El can finish getting the pasta ready," Nancy said, authoritatively.

"What about me?" Mike objected.

Nancy gave him an evil grin. "You, baby brother, are going upstairs to clean that lip-gloss off your face before Mom sees it."

Mike's eyes nearly popped out of his head as he quickly covered his mouth with his hands, and El and Nancy both giggled as he rushed away.


	4. Chapter 4

Try as they might, Dustin and El were unable, over the course of the weekend, to come up with any reasonable strategies to make Sylvia fall in love with him. All of their ideas turned out either impractical, unethical, or just plain silly.

"What if you made me fly?" Dustin said to Eleven as they sat in Mike's basement on Sunday afternoon, joined by the rest of the group (who were attempting to do homework).

"How is that supposed to make her like you?" Lucas scoffed. "Girls don't just go, 'Oh look, that guy can fly, I want to date him now.'"

"It worked for Superman!" Dustin objected. "Don't you think if I started flying around the playground, she would be impressed?"

"Don't even think about it," Mike warned. "We can't risk anyone finding out about El's powers. The chief would kill us."

"Ugh, fine," Dustin said, "it was just an idea…"

He sat and thought, doodling on his history textbook. Ten minutes later, he sat up, excited.  
"Okay, what if you three," he pointed at Will, Mike, and Lucas, "dress up as ninjas, and then you attack me in the cafeteria…"

"Um, no," Lucas objected, "absolutely not."

Will agreed. "No one said anything about dressing in costume."

"Yeah, just because El is helping you doesn't mean we're going to," Mike reminded him.

Dustin chuckled. "Actually, Wheeler, having El on my side means you are _absolutely_ going to help me. You can't say no to her and you know it."

Mike blushed and kicked Dustin under the table.

Eleven spoke up after thinking for a while. "You should kiss her."

The boys stared at her, and Dustin almost spit out his Pepsi. "You're kidding."

She shook her head, looking perfectly serious.

Dustin was having trouble forming full sentences. "You can't – I can't – I mean – "

Will patted Dustin on the back. "Calm down, buddy."

"How would that even work?" Dustin asked El, still freaking out at the idea. "You can't just walk over and kiss a girl out of the blue without any warning!"

Mike was staring hard at El. _Don't say it, don't say it, don't say it…_

"Yes you can! Mike did that with me!" El said innocently, smiling.

 _Shit._

Lucas nearly fell out of his chair, he was laughing so hard. "Oh, really?" Dustin asked, acting casual and trying to keep a straight face. "Can you tell us more about that?"

El nodded happily. "Well, we were in the school waiting for Nancy and Jonathan, and you went to get pudding, and…"

"Oh, they don't want to hear that story, El," Mike said, hurrying to cut her off.

"Yes we do!" Will said.

"Yeah, maybe it'll…" Lucas said, fighting off a giggle, "maybe it'll help us come up with an idea for Dustin."

Mike glared at them. "It's a _very_ different situation." Then he softened and smiled at El, not wanting her to feel discouraged. "But it's a good thought, El. I just don't think Dustin and Sylvia know each other well enough yet."

Dustin sighed. "It's not like I would have the guts to kiss her, anyway…" He looked forlorn.

"Look, Dustin," Lucas said, "My dad always says the first rule of strategy is that you need good intel. Before you guys do anything drastic, El needs to find out what Sylvia thinks of you. Then you can go from there." Feeling satisfied with his pronouncement, he opened his history textbook. "Now, I hate to say it, but I think we need to study for this test before we all flunk out of middle school."

Dustin rolled his eyes but he knew his friend was right. "Fine," he said.

Lucas, Will, and Dustin took turns quizzing each other from the book while Mike worked on problems for math class. After listening for a while, El spoke up.

"Mike, can I read your… your… in-sigh… in-cy-claw… in-cycloped…" she blushed, stumbling over the difficult word.

"Encyclopedia?" Mike asked.

She nodded. "Can I?"

"Sure El," he said, grinning. "Come on, it's up in my room." They tiptoed upstairs, careful not to wake Ted Wheeler who was sleeping on the Lazy Boy in the living room.

Mike's room was messy and crammed full with books, so it took a few minutes for him to find the Children's Encyclopedia that El had been working her way through for the past few weeks. He hunted for it while El sat on his bed and wrapped herself in his comforter.

"Here it is!" he said, pulling the heavy volume from under a pile of schoolbooks. He presented it to her dramatically and she took it from him with a grin. She opened it eagerly, remembering exactly where she had left off.

Mike stood there awkwardly, watching her turn the pages. "Um, El? Are you coming back downstairs?"

"No," she said, smiling down at the book and clutching the blanket closer.

"Oh," he said, looking disappointed. "Okay, well, enjoy…" he said, walking slowly towards the door.

To his surprise, when he went to turn the doorknob, it was stuck. "What the…" he said, twisting it back and forth and trying to get the door to open.

Behind him, El giggled.

Mike turned around and spotted her expression. He rolled his eyes, trying to seem annoyed, but he couldn't keep the smile off his face. "You locked us in again."

She nodded, grinning.

With a chuckle, he returned to her side and tugged on her blanket cocoon until she made room for him on the bed. "Okay, but we've got to be back downstairs before your mom shows up in an hour."

She nodded and unwrapped herself just enough so that she could snuggle into Mike's side. She handed him the book. "Read to me?" she asked in a small voice.

He smiled against her forehead and found the page she had dog-eared.

"The Kingdom of Denmark is the southernmost of the countries that form the region known as Scandinavia," he read. "Scandinavia also includes Sweden and Norway. Although small in territory and population, Denmark has played a notable role in European history…"

El listened, enraptured by every detail, no matter how mundane. Even though she still loved fairy tales, she was finding herself drawn even more to information about the real world, which was so much bigger and stranger and more beautiful than she ever could have imagined.

"How far away is Denmark?" she asked Mike. Saving his place in the book with one hand, he flipped to the back page to show her the world map.

"Here we are in Indiana," he said, pointing. He drew a line with his finger, "and Denmark is in Europe, all the way over on the other side of the ocean, and way up north."

She frowned. "Looks far."

He nodded. "Even if we flew in a plane, it would take almost a day to get there." He flipped back to one of the earlier pages, showing her the entry for "Airplane."

El sighed. "I want to go there…"

Mike squeezed her hand. "We'll go one day. Although I really think we should go to some other places first. Like Egypt, or Pompeii, or London or New York City maybe."

"Okay," she said. "And then Denmark."

He laughed. "Then, Denmark," he agreed.

They turned the page for the next entry: Dickinson, Emily.

"A New England writer whose work was unknown in her lifetime, Emily Dickinson is regarded today as one of the finest American poets…" Mike read aloud.

"Mike? What is a poet?" El asked.

"A poet is someone who writes poems," Mike explained. He realized she might still be confused, so he continued. "Poems are like stories, but they're shorter and sometimes they rhyme." He showed her the poem printed on the page. "This is a famous poem that she wrote."

 _I'm nobody! Who are you?_

 _Are you nobody, too?_

 _Then there's a pair of us – don't tell!_

 _They'd banish us, you know._

 _How dreary to be somebody!_

 _How public, like a frog_

 _To tell your name the livelong day_

 _To an admiring bog!_

El said nothing, looking thoughtful. Mike figured she was working on understanding the poem, but when she finally spoke, it was with a totally unexpected comment.

"I think… I heard that _you_ are a poet," she said, smiling shyly at him.

He stared at her, confused. "What are you talking about?"

"You wrote a poem. So, you are a poet," she said. "Sylvia told me."

"Sylvia told you… about my poem?" he repeated, a blush spreading up his neck. "Um, which one?"

"About… eleven?" she glanced at him, biting her lip. "I thought… maybe… was it about me?"

He smiled ruefully and ran his hand through his hair. "Well, yeah, it was," he admitted.

"Can I read it?" she asked eagerly.

He balked, his palms sweating. "I'm not sure…" The only way he'd talked himself into putting the poem down onto paper in the first place was by vowing never to let El, or anyone who knew her, ever set eyes on it. It would have been too embarrassing otherwise.

Eleven caught his gaze. "Please?" she asked, in a tiny hopeful voice, her eyes wide and her mouth pouting out slightly.

 _Damn it._ She was good at this. Dustin's words rang in his head: _"You can't say no to her and you know it."_

Pathetic, but true.

"Fine," he sighed, "but you have to _promise_ not to laugh, and not to tell _anyone,_ okay El?"

She nodded vigorously. "Promise."

He walked over to his desk and pulled out his creative writing notebook. He ripped out the page with the poem on it, and after checking to make sure there were no embarrassing doodles on the page, he handed it over.

"Here," he muttered, nerves making him unusually brusque. He sat down on the bed and immediately started fiddling with his shoelaces, seemingly unable to look at El while she was reading the poem.

His handwriting was small and she had to bring the paper close to read it. She could see where his hand had smudged the ink and there were several lines that had been crossed out, or words that had been added. She mouthed the words aloud as she read them, slowly making sense of the crowded, slanted letters.

 _Poem for Eleven_

 _Let me take you by the hand – the cold night rain_

 _Falls hard and fast and you have no protection from it._

 _The water…_

"Eleven!" Will shouted up the stairs, "Mom is here!"

She looked up, surprised. "I have to go," she told Mike, frowning.

He wasn't sure whether he was relieved or disappointed, but when he reached for the poem back, she ducked away from his grasp. She giggled, unwilling to relinquish her prize.

"El, can I have that back, please?" he asked, slightly panicked.

"No, it's mine," she told him with a grin. "I'm going to read it." She folded the paper into a square and stuck it into her shirt pocket, then opened the door and rushed down the stairs before he could stop her.

Between helping Joyce get dinner on the table and going through a quick after-dinner vocabulary lesson, El didn't get a chance to read Mike's poem until after Joyce tucked her into bed. She waited until the house was quiet, hid under her covers, turned on her flashlight, and read.

 _Let me take you by the hand – the cold night rain_

 _Falls hard and fast and you have no protection from it._

 _The water glinting in your eyebrows and dripping from your hair_

 _Makes you seem so small and frightened, like the lone survivor_

 _Of some awful shipwreck, but then again I really could believe_

 _That you were born out of this storm, made of lightning_

 _And of darkness, powerful like no one will ever, ever know._

 _But either way, it doesn't matter, because you are here now,_

 _Safe on dry land in my father's sweatshirt, my sister's socks,_

 _Resting on my shoulder and waiting for the dawn. Tell me_

 _Your name (it will be our secret), stay for eleven centuries._

" _Beautiful,_ " she whispered to Mike in her mind, and a mile away, on Maple Street, he sat up in bed with his heart thrumming in his chest, grinning broadly, giddy with pride.

She fell asleep with the paper clutched in her hand and in the morning she found ink streaks on her chin and she didn't mind one bit.

A few days later, Dustin, Lucas, Will, and Mike were all sitting at their usual table in the school cafeteria, arguing about the logistics of time travel, when they were approached by Sylvia, Melissa, and Kate.

"Hey, Will," Sylvia said, waving. Dustin scowled into his tater tots.

"Oh, um, hey there," Will said awkwardly. He wasn't used to being greeted by random popular girls.

"El lives with you, right?" Sylvia asked.

"Um, yeah," Will said, not sure where this was going.

"Cool, well we just wanted to invite her to a sleepover at my house, on Friday night."

Mike beamed. "We'll tell her!" he interjected.

Melissa stared at him. "Are you _Mike_?" she asked, suddenly. He nodded, confused. Kate and Melissa looked at each other and started giggling.

"We heard all about _you_ ," Kate remarked, smirking. Mike turned tomato red.

Sylvia rolled her eyes and turned back to Will. "Here's my address," she said, handing him a piece of paper, "and my phone number. She can call me after school so I know whether or not she can come. Oh, and tell her to bring a sleeping bag, and any snacks or videos she wants, okay?" Will nodded and stuffed the scrap of paper in his pocket.

As soon as the girls had turned the corner, Dustin reached into Will's coat and snatched the piece of paper, smoothing it out over the lunch table surface. "Hold on, I have to write this down," he said, searching his backpack for a pen.

Will grabbed the paper back. "She didn't give this to you – it's for El."

"But it's her phone number! What if I need it," complained Dustin.

Lucas rolled his eyes. "It's not like you're actually going to use it to talk to her," he pointed out. "You're just gonna stare at it for a while, then call her a couple times and hang up if she answers, then stare at it some more."

Will nodded. "Exactly."

Dustin opened his mouth to argue, then closed it again, knowing they were right.

Mike was still staring into space. "Hey guys? What do you think they meant, 'we heard all about you'?"

Lucas chuckled and patted his friend on the back. "It means you are in deep shit."

"Yeah, Mike," teased Dustin, "it sounds like your girlfriend likes to kiss and tell."

"She's _not_ my girlfriend," said Mike, prompting eye-rolls and groans from all the other boys. "Come on, guys, don't you think we're a little too young?" he asked, defensively.

"Considering the fact that we fought off an inter-dimensional monster and government assassins last year…" Dustin said, sarcastically, "I'm gonna go with no."

"All the more reason…" Mike muttered, frowning.

"What was that?" asked Lucas. Mike fidgeted and sighed, obviously uncomfortable with having this conversation.

"I just… I just don't think El is ready, okay?" he said, his voice so low as to be almost inaudible, his hands busy twirling a bottle-cap on the lunch table.

"Have you asked her? If she's ready?" Will said.

Mike shook his head.

"If you don't ask, you'll never know," Dustin said smugly.

"Oh really?" Mike snarked back. "Let's get Sylvia back here so you can ask _her_ a few things."

Dustin's eyes widened and he kicked Mike under the table. " _That's different!"_ he whispered angrily, looking around to see if anyone had heard.

"It's _really_ not," Mike insisted, kicking him back.

Lucas and Will just laughed and rolled their eyes and ate their lunch, wondering how two of their friends had lost their minds in the space of a year and vowing never to let it happen to them.


	5. Chapter 5

When Will told El about Sylvia's sleepover invitation, she wasn't sure if she would be able to even go. The idea of spending a whole night away from home, surrounded by girls she barely knew, made her incredibly nervous. Will tried to reassure her, but he didn't really have the experience to prep her on what she should expect. He pulled his brother aside and explained the situation, and Jonathan made a phone call, and soon Nancy was pulling in the driveway of the Byers' house.

She found El in her new bedroom, sitting on her bed and studying a chapter book.

"Hey, El!" Nancy said, knocking at the open door. El looked up and smiled, putting the book aside.

"Nancy!" she said, grinning. "Are you here to see Jonathan?"

Nancy blushed and shook her head. "No, actually, I'm here to see you. Can I come in?"

El nodded and scooted over, letting Nancy join her on the little bed.

"So…" Nancy began, "I heard you got invited to a sleepover."

El nodded.

"Why don't you want to go, El?" Nancy asked, gently. "Don't you like the girls who invited you?"

El shook her head. "I do like them," she admitted, biting her lip.

"Well, then, what is it?" asked Nancy. "Don't you think it'll be fun, getting to know them?" She smiled sadly, remembering the sleepovers she used to have with Barb.

"Yeah, I guess…" El said, twisting her fingers in her lap.

"Are you worried?" Nancy guessed. El nodded.

"Why don't you tell me what you're worried about," suggested Nancy. "Then maybe we can figure it out."

"I'm worried about… doing the wrong thing. I've never been to a sleepover before. I'm scared they won't like me…" El admitted, fidgeting.

"Now, why in the world wouldn't they like you?" Nancy said, smiling and putting her arm around El's shoulder. "I like you, and Jonathan likes you, and the boys like you, and Mike _really_ likes you," she said, nudging El and making her giggle, "so why wouldn't they? Besides, they already invited you to a sleepover! That says a lot."

El half-smiled and looked up at Nancy hopefully. "You really think I should go?"

Nancy nodded. "I think you're going to have a great time."

Five minutes later, El was on the phone with Sylvia letting her know she'd very much like to come to her sleepover that weekend.

On Friday at 7 o'clock, El arrived at Sylvia's house, carrying a sleeping bag under her arm and wearing a nervous smile. Jonathan parked the car and walked her to the door, giving her a last minute good-luck hug before they rang the bell.

A kind looking man with Sylvia's eyes opened the door. "Well, hello there!" he said, smiling warmly down at El. "You must be Elizabeth!"

"I told you, Dad, her name is El!" Sylvia's voice called out from somewhere in the house.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Sylvia's dad said, looking embarrassed. "I don't know how I got that mixed up." He put out his hand and El shook it shyly. "You can call me Hank."

Sylvia ran into the hallway and gave El a big hug. "I'm so glad you came!" she squealed. "We are gonna have so much fun!" She grabbed El's hand and pulled her into the house. "Come on, Katie and Mel are in the attic."

El barely had time to wave goodbye to Jonathan before she was swept around the corner and up the stairs.

When they reached the attic, they found Melissa and Kate sprawled on the floor eating pizza and reading teen magazines, and the girls greeted her so warmly that she felt immediately at ease.

"How've you been, El?" Sylvia asked as she plopped down next to Kate and grabbed a slice.

"Good," El said as she carefully unrolled her sleeping bag and sat down on it, tucking her knees under her dress. She looked at the pizza and then looked at Sylvia. "Can I…"

"Go for it!" Sylvia nodded, her mouth full. El took a slice and nibbled at it.

"So, have you guys been reading that book we got last week?" Kate asked.

Sylvia nodded, giggling. "It's kind of silly, but there's some parts I like…" she blushed.

"Like the part where they get locked in the brig together?" said Kate, giggling.

Sylvia nodded, her eyes wide.

"Oh my goodness, I just about died," Kate said, sighing. "It's so cute how he's like totally in love with her. I can't wait for them to get together."

"Yeah, but honestly," Melissa said, "I hate how he only started liking her because she pretended to flirt with him."

"I don't know…" Sylvia said, thoughtfully. "Probably, if you think someone might be into you, it makes you like them more."

"I guess that happens sometimes," Melissa said, looking unsure.

Meanwhile, El's wheels were spinning and she was trying to think of a plan to help Dustin. Maybe if Sylvia suspected Dustin of having a crush, it would help make her like him.

After finishing the pizza, Sylvia announced the first activity of the night: a fortune-telling session with her trusty Ouija board. El had never heard of a Ouija board, but Sylvia promised it would be fun and only a little scary, so she went along with it.

They lit some candles (El and Kate and Melissa each had to promise Sylvia they wouldn't tell her parents about this part, since they would have considered it a fire hazard and said no) and sat in a circle on Sylvia's bedroom floor, staring down at the Ouija board, excitement in their eyes. Melissa read an 'incantation' she had found in some new-age Wiccan book at the library and they each placed a single finger on the planchet.

"Is anyone here?" Melissa asked. The planchet wobbled and drifted over to the word "YES."

"Woah!" said Sylvia. "Did you push it, El?"

Eleven shook her head, staring at the board curiously.

"Weird," Melissa said, shivering. "I've never seen it move that fast."

"It always works faster when there's more people," Kate scoffed.

"Ask a question," Melissa said to El.

"Like what?" El asked, drawing a blank.

"Ask it if…" Sylvia giggled. "Ask if you and Mike are going to get married."

El blushed and shook her head.

"Aw, come on El!" said Melissa. "Just see what it says."

El felt really silly, but she went ahead and whispered, "will me and Mike get married?"

"Y-E-S," said the board, almost as soon as the question was out of her mouth.

El grinned, feeling a funny kind of giddy excitement in her stomach, and her friends collapsed in giggles.

"I knew it!" Sylvia said, clapping her hands. "That's so cute."

"Maybe we should call Mike and tell him the big news," Kate said. "Just imagine his face." The girls laughed at El's panicked reaction.

"We're not going to do that," Sylvia reassured her. "Whatever happens at the sleepover stays at the sleepover, right guys?" The girls all nodded.

"Your turn, Kate," Melissa said. Kate rolled her eyes.

"These things are so bogus," she said. "There's no point."

"Come on, Katie," Sylvia whined. "Don't be a spoil-sport."

"Okay, fine," she sighed. "Um… How do I get Jordy Montrose to stop bothering me?"

El wrinkled her eyebrows, confused. The board began to spell out a suggestion. "KICK HIM." The other girls started laughing.

"That's a good idea, Kate," said Sylvia. "Maybe then he'd leave us all alone."

"God, I wish," said Melissa, rolling her eyes. "But since his mom is on the school board you know we'd get in so much trouble."

"Who is Jordy?" El asked.

"He's this creep who likes to snap girls' bra straps and stuff like that," explained Sylvia.

"A few weeks ago he told everyone we were dating," Kate said, wrinkling her nose in disgust. "He's been going around saying I'm easy and now the other boys have started bothering me, too."

"Easy?" asked El, confused. "Easy is bad?"

Kate nodded. "It means… well, it means…" she hesitated, trying to explain. "Guys?" she said, looking around.

"It's… well, it's not a nice thing to say, about a girl," Sylvia explained.

"Oh," El said, considering this. "He's a mouth-breather," she declared.

Sylvia laughed and clapped her hands. "Now you're getting it!"

She grabbed the planchet and placed it back on the center of the board.

"It's my turn! Come on guys!"

Kate rolled her eyes but she and El and Melissa all placed their hands on the board once again.

"Okay," Sylvia said, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. "Do any of the boys at school have a crush on me?"

The planchet began to drift towards the NO side, but El quickly used her powers to tug it back and it eventually landed on YES, making Sylvia squeal with excitement.

"Ahh! Oh my gosh, I wonder who it is?"

El kept her fingers light and straight on the board while she pulled the planchet with her mind. "D-U-S-T-I-N" they read out as the planchet moved around the board.

"What!?" shouted Sylvia. She turned and stared at El. "Do you think it means your friend Dustin?"

El tried not to give anything away with her facial expressions.

"You shouldn't take it that seriously," Kate warned. "These games are just random."

"This is _not_ random," insisted Melissa. "This thing is psychic." She shivered.

"I mean, Dustin did compliment my hair the other day…" Sylvia said. She twirled a curl around her finger, looking thoughtful. "You were there, El, do you think he likes me?"

El shrugged, not sure whether Dustin would want her to confirm it.

"We could have El find out," Melissa suggested.

"No way," Sylvia said, emphatically. "If she asks him, he'll think that _I_ like him and it'll make things _really_ awkward."

" _Do_ you like him?" El asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

"I don't know… he's kinda cute." Sylvia smiled. "I like his dimples."

"Dimples?" asked El, not knowing the word.

Sylvia pointed her fingers to her cheeks. "You know, dimples." El still wasn't sure what that meant, but she let it drop.

"Okay guys, it's my turn," Melissa said. "I need to find out if I'm ever going to become a famous Hollywood actress…"

El didn't ask any more questions or push the planchet with her mind again, but she enjoyed hearing the girls come up with more and more questions, from the serious to the outrageously silly. Finally they ran out of things to ask and so they just lay on the floor talking. El mostly listened, not able to contribute any funny stories about summer camp or family roadtrips or birthday parties, but she didn't mind, happy to just soak in the blissful normalcy of her new friends' lives.

"So, El," Kate said, when the conversation had lulled, "what really happened to Will last year?"

Sylvia and Melissa sat up, staring at El with curious eyes. She looked down and picked at Sylvia's carpet, wanting to tell them the truth but knowing that, even now, it would be dangerous for them to know too much. Besides, she didn't want them to feel threatened by the darkness she and the boys had just barely walked away from.

"Will was taken away," El began.

"Like, he was kidnapped?" Sylvia said, eyes wide. El nodded.

"His mom and Chief Hopper saved him," she said. "He almost died."

The girls shivered. "Then what about…" Melissa said, whispering almost without realizing it. "The body they found in the quarry? And the funeral?"

"I don't know," admitted El, "but it wasn't Will."

"I heard a rumor that they buried a dummy," Kate said. "It's hard to believe something like that could happen in Hawkins." She grimaced. "My parents haven't let me stay outside past dark ever since."

"Mine either," Melissa agreed.

El frowned. She wished she could tell them the whole story, how she'd dissolved the monster into a thousand pieces of ash and personally made sure no one would ever go missing into the Upside Down again, but that probably wasn't something they would understand.

Sylvia could sense that El was ready for a change in the subject. "Let's go find a movie to watch," she suggested.

Although El was by this point well versed in Star Wars and the other fantasy and sci-fi films Mike and his friends adored, it became clear that the movies Sylvia and the girls preferred were quite different. After a spirited debate, the group decided on _Grease,_ which Kate described as "a classic" - she'd brought the VHS - and they settled down to watch. El was surprised when the characters started singing, but Sylvia explained that things like that happened in movies like this. El liked the music and thought Sandy seemed nice. She didn't get many of the jokes, but the others didn't seem to fully get them, either. By the time Sandy and Danny were in a fight for the third or fourth time, all the girls were starting to doze off.

Sylvia's mom woke them up during the end credits, insisting they go upstairs so they could sleep in their sleeping bags instead of leaning against each other on the living room couch.

El lay on the floor looking up at the glow-in-the-dark stars stuck to Sylvia's bedroom ceiling and listening to Melissa and Kate argue quietly about whether _Footloose_ was a better movie than _Grease._

 _"_ Are you asleep, El?" she heard Sylvia whisper.

"Yes," El answered, and in a minute, she was.


	6. Chapter 6

El had gone to sleep the picture of contentment, but she woke up in the middle of the night with her fingernails digging deep into her palms and a terrible anxious knot sitting in her chest. She'd had a nightmare - a bad one - about being back in the lab, running through the hallways searching for an escape until she was finally cornered by the man she had once called Papa. He'd held her down and whispered coldly in her ear that she was his forever, that he'd never let her go…

She shivered beneath her sleeping bag and bit down on her lip, trying not to cry. Her unfamiliar surroundings added to her distress, until she was somewhat reassured by the sound of the other girls breathing in and out, one of them snoring softly beside her. She closed her eyes and counted to ten, trying to calm down, to go back to sleep, but images from her nightmare kept coming back into her head, sending sickening jolts of fear through her body. She extricated herself from her sleeping bag and tiptoed downstairs and out onto the porch, staring blankly into the night. It was raining, and she wondered if that was what had triggered the bad dream. Rain reminded her of Benny, and what had happened to him, and of running from the bad men even though she knew she'd never get away…

She sat down on the porch, wrapping her arms around her knees. Her teeth chattered slightly but she didn't feel like she could move. She was afraid to go back inside the house, afraid of the dark corners and thin walls and the doors that could lock you in.

After some time, she noticed a light off in the distance, coming down the street. It grew closer and closer, until she realized why it seemed so familiar.

"El!" shouted a worried voice. "El, are you okay?"

There was Mike, sleepy-eyed and bedraggled from the rain, jumping off his bike and hurrying up the porch steps to wrap her up in a very-much-needed hug. She didn't care that he dripped on her new pajamas or that his hands were freezing cold. She didn't ask how he knew. She just nestled into his arms and let the tears come.

"You're safe now," he whispered. "I'll keep you safe. I promise, I promise, El, I swear, you don't have to be scared anymore…"

She felt the pressure in her chest slowly unwind. Mike's physical presence – his hair dripping in his eyes, the thump of his heartbeat, his warm breath, the crinkling sound of his rain jacket – grounded her somehow, helped her know for sure that this was the real world and that the nightmares were over.

Mike kept talking, somehow understanding that it helped her just to listen, to get her mind off her fears.

"Everyone gets scared sometimes," Mike was saying. "I'm scared of heights, did I ever tell you that? You know, you would think after jumping off the cliff that time I would be cured, but I actually think it got worse because I remember what it felt like when I was falling and thought I was gonna die. I mean, I didn't really think I was gonna die because I knew you would rescue me – well, I was like, 80 percent sure. But man, I was falling for a while." He chuckled, nudging her. "You took your time on that one."

She opened her mouth, trying to find her voice. She sometimes had trouble remembering how to speak after an anxiety attack, reverting back to sentence fragments and non-verbal gestures. "Caught you… soon as I could," she finally managed to say.

Mike chuckled. "Oh, I know. I'm just teasing you. You came at just the right time, and you were _awesome_." He smiled at the memory.

"Jumping was dumb," she said, frowning. "Not safe."

"You're right, you're right. I still can't believe I did that." He grimaced. "Looking back on it, there's no way Troy was gonna cut Dustin's teeth out. I really should have called his bluff."

"Call his bluff…" El repeated, looking confused.

"Oh, sorry," Mike said. "It comes from a card game called poker…"

By the time Mike had finished his explanation, El was feeling much more comfortable – in fact, she was starting to drift off.

" _El!"_ he whispered, waking her. " _Are you falling asleep?_ "

She nodded and smiled at him drowsily.

"You should go back inside," he told her. "You can't spend all night on the porch, and I'm not supposed to be here, anyway."

El frowned, not wanting him to leave. "Can't you come sleep in Sylvia's room with me?"

Mike blushed and shook his head. "Boys aren't allowed at girl sleepovers," he explained. "If you get scared again, use your powers to send me a message, okay?"

El nodded. Mike stood up and helped her to her feet. Her legs were stiff from sitting in the cold for so long, and she stumbled into his arms.

"Are you okay?" Mike asked, worried, tightening his grip.

She stared at him and nodded, suddenly feeling her heartbeat in her ears.

He let go of her and blushed, shuffling his feet. "Alright, then, well, I'd better get going…" he said, ducking his head and turning away.

She caught his wrist in her hands and he turned back towards her, looking confused. Quickly, she leaned forward and left a gentle kiss on his cheek. "Thank you," she murmured in his ear, enjoying the way his face was turning pink.

"Ahem."

El and Mike jumped and turned around to see Sylvia standing behind them in the doorway, wearing a knowing smile.

Mike stood there like a deer in headlights for a second, before squeaking out the words, "Bye, El!" and darting back out into the rainy darkness.

"What was he doing here?" Sylvia asked.

"Um… He just, he came to check on me. I – I had a bad dream," El mumbled, shuffling her feet.

"Okay…" Sylvia said, doubtfully. "Well, that was nice of him." She put her arm around El and pulled her back inside the house. As they tiptoed up the stairs, she whispered, "Did you guys pick a date?"

"Huh?" El asked, quizzically.

"You know… for the _wedding_ ," Sylvia said, smirking.

Their giggles almost woke up the entire house.

In the morning El was slightly perturbed to learn that Sylvia's family did not eat Eggos for breakfast, but Hank made her an omelet that was almost as good. Sylvia didn't mention anything about Mike's visit, for which El was grateful.

Sylvia's parents were friendly and warm, although they asked a few more questions than El was comfortable answering. It was a relief when Sylvia pulled her away from the breakfast table for a morning game of Spoons.

When Jonathan arrived to take El back home, she was surprised by how reluctant she felt to leave. The girls gave El goodbye hugs and promised to see her again soon. They had all stayed up quite late the night before, so by the time El got back home she was already yawning. She napped much of the day, feeling worn out but still very, very happy.

On Sunday, Dustin came over to the Byers', purportedly in order to work on a science project with Will and Lucas, but mostly so he could grill El about her time with Sylvia.

He was subtle at first, just asking general questions about the sleepover, but finally he took the direct approach.

"El, did you find out if Sylvia likes me?" he asked, sounding nervous.

She giggled. "Yes."

His eyes widened, then narrowed suspiciously. "Yes, you found out, or yes, she likes me?"

"Yes, I found out," El said, smiling.

Dustin closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Okay. Okay. I'm ready," he said, more to himself than to her.

She just looked at him.

"So…?" he prodded.

"So what?"

"Does she… does she like me?" Dustin asked nervously.

El giggled. "Can't tell you."

"What?" Dustin said, frustrated. "Of course you can."

She closed her eyes, remembering what Sylvia had told her. "What happens… at the sleepover… stays at the sleepover."

"You gotta be kidding me!" Dustin exclaimed.

El shook her head. "I gotta be… _not_ kidding!"

Normally, El's unique way of butchering an ordinary English phrase beyond recognition would have made Dustin chuckle, but he was much too busy freaking out to notice.

"El, seriously, I need to know what she said!" Dustin implored her. "Just give me a hint, please!"

El was unmoved.

Dustin frowned. "I bet she doesn't like me at all, and you're just trying not to hurt my feelings." He lay down on the living room floor in utter despair. "She probably thinks I'm some kind of freak."

"No!" El said, outraged. "She thinks you are cute!" Then El realized what she had let slip and clapped a hand over her mouth, looking guilty.

Dustin, on the other hand, popped up from the floor with an expression of victory mixed with shock. "Seriously? Sylvia said that?"

El bit her lip, trying not to say anything else. Then she sighed and nodded - since she'd already let the cat out of the bag, she might as well answer Dustin's questions.

"Cute like… movie star cute? or like, baby animal cute?" Dustin asked.

"I don't know," El admitted. Then she pointed at Dustin's cheek. "Dimples."

"Huh?" Dustin said.

"Your dimples," El explained, "Sylvia said they are cute."

Dustin wrinkled his eyebrows. "Do I have dimples?"

El shrugged. She wasn't totally sure what dimples were, just that they were something on your face.

"Guys, do I have dimples?" Dustin asked Lucas and Will.

"How would we know? We don't just stare at your face all day," Lucas scoffed.

"Nancy!" Dustin shouted. Nancy poked her head out of Jonathan's room, looking distracted.

"Oh, uh, hey guys," she said. "How did you know I was here?"

"You're here all the time," Dustin pointed out.

Nancy turned red. "Good point. Anyways… what's up?"

"You're a girl," Dustin began.

"Where is this going?" Nancy asked, eyes narrowed.

"I just need to find out if I have dimples," Dustin explained.

Nancy looked amused. "Come here." She stared closely at Dustin's face, making him blush. "Yeah, I suppose you do," she said, smiling. "I never noticed before."

"Dustin, stop flirting with my girlfriend," they heard Jonathan shout jokingly from his bedroom.

Nancy giggled. "Oh, shush."

Dustin drifted dreamily back to the couch where, much to the other boys' dismay, he was even more useless to the science project than before. There were really only two thoughts in his head, repeating on a loop and putting a dopey, irrepressible smile on his face.

 _Sylvia thinks I'm cute. Sylvia likes my dimples. Sylvia thinks I'm cute. Sylvia likes my dimples…_


	7. Chapter 7

For the next few days, Dustin tried to work up the nerve to go talk to Sylvia. For some reason, the fact that she might actually find him cute made him more nervous, instead of less. It was very frustrating for his friends, who had to listen to him mentally prepare himself and get all pumped up to talk to her, only to chicken out at the last minute. No matter how many pep talks they gave him, he just couldn't follow through.

It didn't help that he embarrassed himself in almost every interaction with her. In Math class, she asked to borrow a pencil and he immediately gave her the only one he had, so that he ended up unable to take any notes for the rest of the lecture. When he bumped into her in the lunch line, he just asked her how she was liking the weather and then blushed and bolted away, leaving behind his tater tots as well as his sense of dignity.

On Wednesday afternoon, just as Dustin was once again trying and failing to work up the nerve to approach his crush, El was at home eating grilled cheese sandwiches with Joyce.

"El," Joyce said, looking thoughtful, "There's something I'd like to talk to you about."

El nodded, swallowing a bite.

"You're doing so wonderful with your schoolwork, you know. You're really picking up Math and Science, especially. I'm so proud of you for how hard you've been working."

El smiled. "Thank you, Mama," she said. Joyce looked down at her little adoptive daughter, trying not to get too sentimental even though she felt herself begin to tear up.

"I spoke with Mr. Clarke and the school principal, and we were thinking that you might be ready to try taking a few classes at the middle school, instead of spending all day studying at home. What would you think of that?"

"School?" El repeated, dumbstruck.

"We were thinking you could stay home in the morning like always, and do lessons with me or Hopper, but then you can go to school in the afternoon and take science with Mr. Clarke and math with Mrs. Hepburn."

El's eyes nearly popped out of her head. "I could go to school? With Mike? And Will, and everyone?"

Joyce smiled and nodded. "Is that what you want?"

Eleven nearly jumped up and down in excitement. "Yes! I want to go!" she told Joyce. Going to school had been her dream ever since she moved in with the Byers… well, really, since she had tagged along with Mike and his friends the day they snuck her in to find Will. It had seemed like such a wonderful place, filled with friends and books and nice teachers like Mr. Clarke. Since then, she'd heard more about school, and she knew her friends complained about it often, but she still wanted to see for herself. Besides, she loved the idea of spending all day with her friends instead of having to wait until 3:15 every day to see them.

Joyce smiled proudly. "Okay, I'll call the principal. They said you can start this Friday, if you'd like."

At the end of the school day, Mike, Will, Lucas, and Dustin met up at the bike rack by the playground. Will and Lucas were commiserating about the massive amount of homework they'd been assigned in History class, and Dustin was furtively scanning the schoolyard for a glimpse of Sylvia, and Mike was lost in a daydream.

Dustin was the one who spotted her. "Mike!" he said, tapping him on the arm. "It's El!"

Mike looked up in shock. He saw Eleven standing by the school fence, looking around with curiosity at the hordes of laughing, scuffling children surrounding her. Mike's eyes lit up and he waved excitedly, running over to her. "El! El!"

She heard him calling her name and she grinned. "Hi, Mike," she said, reaching out and squeezing his hand.

He stared at her for a second, just happy to see her, before he remembered to wonder why she was there. A frown of worry crossed his face. "Is everything okay?" he asked.

She nodded and opened her mouth to begin to explain, but she was interrupted by the other guys rushing up to greet her. Mike dropped her hand, blushing and shuffling his feet, but the others didn't seem to notice.

"Hey, El!" Dustin said, "Didn't expect to see you here!"

"Yeah, I thought you'd be at home with Mom," said Will.

"Is something going on?" asked Lucas, curious.

El smiled and nodded. "I wanted to tell you all something," she said, her eyes bright.

"What is it?" Mike asked.

Suddenly they heard a girl's voice shout out, "El! Is that you?"

Dustin turned bright red, and El smiled and looked over her shoulder. "Hi, Sylvia!"

"Hey, girl, what are you doing here?" Sylvia squealed, giving El a big hug. El looked a little shocked but she hugged her new friend back. "Did you just come to visit? It's good to see you."

"You too," El said, blushing. Sylvia looked around at the boys who were staring at her and giggled. "Oh, uh, hey guys! How's it going?"

Lucas rolled his eyes. "El was _about_ to tell us something important."

"Oh!" Sylvia said, looking embarrassed, "sorry! I can go…" she offered.

El shook her head forcefully. "I want to tell you, too!" she said, and Sylvia smiled.

"So, come on El, what is it?" Will asked, impatiently.

El took a deep breath. "Joyce said that I'm… 'caught up,' in Math and Science."

Mike smiled. "That's so great, El! We're really, really proud of you." But El shook her head – she wasn't finished.

"She said… I can take those classes… here at school. With all of you!"

The boys were shocked. "Seriously?" asked Dustin.

El nodded. "I'm going to do lessons at home in the morning, and go to school in the afternoon."

The next thing she knew, Mike was laughing and hugging her so hard she couldn't breathe. "El! That's amazing!"

The boys gave her high fives. "Way to go!" said Lucas.

Sylvia squealed. "Maybe we'll have class together! That'll be so much fun. I can introduce you to everyone and we can be study buddies."

El smiled, glad to share her good news and happy her friends would all be there with her when she started school.

"We were talking about going to the arcade today, do you want to come?" Lucas said to El. She nodded, excited. She'd gotten better at arcade games over the last few months, with a lot of help from Mike.

El turned and looked at Sylvia. "Do you want to go, too?"

Mike, Lucas, and Will gave each other apprehensive looks. They weren't used to having girls they didn't know tag along on their arcade trips. Dustin just stared at his shoes, terrified.

Sylvia was a little taken aback as well. "I don't know… I don't really play those games…"

"We can teach you!" Dustin blurted out, before returning, red faced, to his examination of his Converse sneakers.

El nodded. "It's fun," she promised.

"Oh, alright," Sylvia said with a grin. "I'll give it a try."

When they reached the bike racks, Mike whispered in El's ear and she nodded, blushing. Quickly, she hopped on the back of his bike and wrapped her arms around his torso, leaning against his shoulder blades.

"Wait, guys, I guess I can't go with you," said Sylvia, looking disappointed. "I didn't bring my bike."

"Well, maybe…" Will began, but Lucas shushed him, giving Dustin a hard shove behind Sylvia's back.

"What…" Dustin began, looking mystified. Lucas gave him a meaningful look, pointed at Mike and El, then pointed at Sylvia, then pointed back at Dustin.

Dustin's eyes widened in understanding, and he gulped.

"You can share my bike, Sylvia," he managed to squeak out.

Sylvia giggled. "Only if you promise not to crash."

Dustin looked worried and Sylvia laughed, jumping behind him on the bike. "I'm just teasing. Let's go!"

"O-okay," said Dustin, gripping the handlebars with all his might and starting to pedal, praying he would be able to stay upright.

The kids biked along, enjoying the spring air and trading jokes and anecdotes from their day at school – although Dustin was unusually quiet, obviously hyper-aware of the girl clutching his jacket and giggling in his ear.

At the foot of Wilson Hill, Sylvia suddenly tapped Dustin on the shoulder and shouted, "Stop!" He skidded to a halt, almost losing his balance.

"What is it?" he asked, twisting around to look at her. "Are you okay?"

She jumped off the bike and motioned for him to follow. "I saw a kitten!" she said.

"Huh?" he said, confused. He glanced ahead and saw his friends biking away.

"Dustin! Look!" she insisted, pointing. He followed her gesture with his eyes and saw a white kitten with black paws curled up on the leafy ground, mewing softly.

"I think it's hurt," she said, clucking in dismay. "Here, kitty! Here, kitty!"

Carefully, she approached the animal. "Dustin! Her leg is broken or something, there's blood here. Poor little thing."

Dustin followed behind. "Does it have a collar?" he asked.

"Yeah, I think so," she said. Gently, she scooped up the kitten and brought it over to him.

"Aww, hey there," he said, leaning down and stroking its fur. It seemed to be trembling a little. "Don't be scared, you're okay," he murmured, smiling.

He turned over the collar tag and examined it. "It says her name is Daisy and she belongs to the house at 28 Crescent Lane."

"Do you know where that is?" Sylvia asked.

Dustin nodded. "It's just a few blocks away." He scratched Daisy behind the ears. "Let's leave the bike here and take the shortcut through the woods. I'm sure Daisy wants to get back home, don't you Daisy?" he said, smiling.

Sylvia grinned. "We might not make it to the arcade in time," she pointed out.

Dustin shrugged. "That's fine. I go there all the time anyways."

Sylvia looked down at Daisy and smiled, feeling oddly touched that this boy she barely knew was dropping everything to help her return a lost cat.

Dustin led her along the forest path as they chatted about their pets and about school and what they wanted to do this summer. He held her hand to help her climb over a fallen log, letting go almost immediately once she was back on solid ground. He was so busy blushing that he nearly tripped, although luckily she didn't seem to notice.

Finally, the trees began to clear away and they reached Crescent Lane. "28 should be down this way," Dustin said, pointing.

"How do you know that?" asked Sylvia. "Do you live on this street, or something?"

Dustin shook his head, blushing. "I'm just – um – really into maps?" he mumbled. "I know, what a geek, right?" he said, scratching his neck.

"No, it's, uh, cool," she said, not entirely convincing, but still. "Everybody's got their hobby. Plus, it's coming in handy now, isn't it?" she said, giving him a friendly nudge. Dustin smiled down at his shoes.

"Here it is," he announced, pointing at a blue colonial house with a white picket fence out front.

Sylvia scratched Daisy's fur and kissed her head. "You're home now," she said, smiling. "Let's go find your family."

Dustin rang the doorbell and a little girl in yellow overalls answered. As soon as she spotted the cat, her eyes widened. "Mommy!" she squealed. "Daisy is home!"

A woman in a red sweater rushed up behind her. "Oh, thank goodness!" she sighed, "We were so worried!" She smiled at Dustin and Sylvia, then looked down at Daisy. "Oh no, is she hurt?"

Dustin answered. "We found her in the woods by Wilson Hill. It seems like she might have broken her leg."

"We carried her here," Sylvia told them. Carefully, she bent down and handed the kitten to the little girl, who hugged her tightly.

"We'll have to take her to the vet tomorrow," the woman said, comfortingly stroking her daughter's hair. "Thank you two so much!" She reached for the wallet sitting on the hall table. "Let me give you a little pocket money as a reward."

Dustin shook his head forcefully. "Oh, no, Ma'am, we just wanted to help."

Sylvia agreed. "We wanted to make sure Daisy was okay." She reached down to pet the kitten, smiling.

"Well, alright, then," the woman said. "But can I at least give you some cookies? I just made a batch this afternoon."

Dustin's eyes lit up. "Sure!" he said, excited. Sylvia giggled and he looked at her and shrugged, as if to say, "how can we say no to cookies?"

They carried the cookies back with them, munching as they walked. Before they re-entered the woods, they had already noticed the sky getting dark, and they had only been walking for about fifteen minutes when they heard the tell-tale sound of raindrops striking the forest canopy. He looked over at Sylvia and grimaced. "I think it's raining."

"I'm sure it'll stop," she said, but instead the raindrops began to fall faster. Soon, they were drenched. Dustin took off his rain jacket and handed it to Sylvia when he saw that she was shivering. She demurred at first, but finally accepted it gratefully as the rain came down harder and harder. They spotted a small wooden shelter built along the trail and rushed towards it. There wasn't much space underneath so they had to squat on the ground, huddling together, the rain blowing in their eyes when the wind shifted it sideways.

"Sorry," Sylvia said. Dustin looked confused, so she explained. "If it wasn't for me, you'd be at the arcade by now, not out here in the woods getting soaked."

He grinned and shook his head. "I don't mind. I'm – I'm glad you came." They locked eyes and Sylvia felt strangely – nervous? She wasn't sure, but suddenly the rain jacket she had on felt uncomfortably warm. They were close enough that their knees were touching and she could see the flecks of gold in his eyes.

There was a flash of lightning in the distance, and Sylvia shivered. "It's not safe out here in a storm," she said, worried. "What if a tree gets hit by lightning and falls on us or something?"

Dustin shook his head. "It's pretty far away," he pointed out. "We haven't heard any thunder yet."

"I'm glad we got Daisy home before the rain started," said Sylvia.

"Me too," Dustin said. "It's funny…" he said, looking out at the woods, "It almost reminds me of the day we found El. She was a lot like Daisy."

"The day you… found her?" Sylvia repeated. "What do you mean?"

Dustin turned pale. He wasn't supposed to let stuff like that slip. "I mean, um, the day we met her."

Sylvia narrowed her eyes. "That's not what you said."

Dustin gulped. She wasn't buying his excuse. He looked at her and sighed. "Okay, fine, you're right. We didn't meet her, we found her." He scratched behind his ear, trying to find a good explanation.

"I thought – I thought she was adopted," Sylvia said, looking confused.

"Well, she _was_ ," he said, "but that was after. She… well, basically… she ran away."

"From her dad?" Sylvia guessed. Dustin looked at her, eyebrows raised in surprise. "She mentioned that he was… not so great."

" _He_ was an _asshole,_ " Dustin said, tossing a rock into the woods with a little too much force. "Total piece of shit."

"That sucks," Sylvia said, quietly. She could tell how much Dustin cared about El and how upset he was at the way she had grown up – whatever had happened to her before she came to Hawkins, it obviously hadn't been good.

"Yeah," Dustin said, tracing patterns absent-mindedly in the dirt. Sylvia smiled gently and placed a hand on his arm, making him freeze.

"She's lucky she found you guys," Sylvia said. "You all obviously look out for her a lot."

"She looks out for us, too," Dustin said, smiling. _You have no idea how much._ "And I'm glad she's gotten to know you, and some of the other girls in the class. I know it means a lot to her – like that sleepover last weekend."

Sylvia blushed, suddenly remembering the message on the Ouija board. Covertly, she studied the side of Dustin's face, wondering if he really did have a crush on her. She was somewhat surprised by how much her stomach fluttered at the thought. A moment later, she felt unbearably silly. _Don't be stupid, those things are fake_ , she told herself.

"It was super fun having her!" Sylvia said, her voice extra bright to cover up her embarrassing internal monologue. "Although I think _her_ favorite part was when Mike showed up, if you want to know the truth," she said, winking.

" _Mike_?" Dustin repeated, shocked. " _Mike_ came to your sleepover?"

Sylvia giggled. "Sort of… I guess he came over to check on her because she had a nightmare? I don't really buy that, because how could he have known? But whatever, I woke up in the middle of the night and I found them out on the porch…" she wiggled her eyebrows. "Good thing my mom didn't see, or she'd never let me have another sleepover again."

Dustin laughed so hard he nearly fell over. "Michael Wheeler, sleepover crasher… who knew?"

"He didn't tell you?" Sylvia asked.

Dustin shook his head. "He probably knew I'd tease him about it for a week. Those two are just… something else." He chuckled. "Mike was head over heels for her pretty much as soon as they met."

"That's adorable," Sylvia gushed.

"We had all assumed that Princess Leia was the only girl for him, but apparently not," Dustin joked.

Sylvia's laughter echoed through the trees and Dustin forgot how much he usually hated rainstorms.


	8. Chapter 8

When Mike, El, Will, and Lucas had reached the top of Wilson Hill, they realized that Dustin and Sylvia were no longer following behind. "Should we wait for them?" Will asked, watching the pair wander towards the side of the road. "Or go back and see what they're doing?"

Lucas shook his head. "Let's just keep going." He chuckled. "Give the kid a chance."

They sped down the hill, shouting with excitement, Mike grinning when he felt the tires of his bike subtly lift off the ground for a few breathless moments.

"You're my favorite," El whispered to him.

"You're mine," he said, hoping she could hear even though he was still facing forward. They had started saying those words to each other almost every day, not quite "I love you," but close enough.

El giggled and set the bike back down before Will and Lucas noticed. She could have made their bikes fly too, but sometimes she liked doing special secret tricks just for Mike when no one was looking. Sometimes she even did them without him realizing, like when she unlocked the "hidden" snack drawer at his house when he was looking for cookies, or when she floated him up the stairs to his bedroom that time he fell asleep watching TV with her.

When they reached the arcade, there was so much hustle and bustle and excitement about the new games that they didn't really start worrying about Dustin and Sylvia until the rain started. Mike led El away from the windows and towards the back of the arcade, knowing that rainstorms still freaked her out.

"I hope those two didn't get stuck out in the storm," Mike commented.

"What if they got lost?" Will said, concerned. "I knew we should have waited for them."

Lucas shook his head. "Dustin knows Hawkins better than any of us – he's not about to get lost."

"Maybe El should check on them," Will suggested. El looked uncomfortable, but she nodded and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she was smiling.

"They're talking about Star Wars," she said, quietly.

Lucas chuckled. "Dustin sure knows how to impress the ladies." He nudged Will. "Come on, let's play another round. They'll be fine."

By the time Dustin and Sylvia finally showed up, wet and bedraggled but obviously in good spirits, the others had already spent about a fortune in quarters.

"Where were you guys?" Mike asked.

Sylvia chuckled. "Oh, me and Dustin were just off being superheroes."

Dustin's smile lit up his whole face. Something about the way she said "me and Dustin" made him want to sing out loud.

"Sorry we missed the games," Sylvia said to El. "Did you guys have fun?"

El nodded. "I beat Mike in air-hockey."

Dustin cackled. "That's our girl!" He leaned in and whispered, "Did you cheat?"

She shook her head, indignant.

"Nice work," he said, giving her a high five. "And who has the high score in pinball?"

"Some high schooler named Jack," said Lucas, sounding annoyed.

"Who had the high score before?" asked Sylvia.

"Dustin did," Lucas told her.

"Well, come on then, Dustin," she said, elbowing him. "Don't you have to reclaim your title?"

He hesitated. "I'm sure these guys are ready to leave…" he said, looking around at the group.

"Aw, come on, I want to see you play!" Sylvia said.

For a second Dustin was sure he had misheard, or that all this must be some kind of dream, but Sylvia just kept smiling at him impatiently, so he gathered his courage and walked over to the pinball machine, sliding a quarter into the coin slot.

 _This may be the most important game of pinball I ever play._

The kids crowded around to watch, Sylvia standing right beside him and peering over his left shoulder, with Lucas, Will, Mike, and El spread out on either side of the machine.

As the game began, Dustin tried to relax his shoulders and shake off the pressure of playing in front of his crush, focusing completely on keeping the little metal balls bouncing around the game board from falling into the drain. The game moved faster and faster, blinking and beeping at every new achievement.

"Goooo Dustin!" Sylvia cheered. He immediately got distracted and let a ball slip into the drain. Everyone groaned and he shook his head, trying to regain his concentration.

"SUPERCHARGE!" boomed from the game's speakers, as four pinballs rushed into the arena at once and the whole board began to flash blue and red.

"He's just twenty points away from a new high score!" Lucas exclaimed. But Dustin was having trouble keeping up with the game at this point, and he let three more pinballs slip away. He was so close to winning… just a few more points…

Suddenly he felt a hand brush against his and he looked over to see that Sylvia was trying to assist by working the extra control on the left side of the console. Although this was meant to be helpful, it had the unintended consequence of temporarily undoing all of his muscle memory and wrecking his concentration. They all watched in dismay as the very last pinball fell into the drain, too fast for him to stop it.

Then, inexplicably, it reversed course, bouncing up against the back bumper and giving Dustin the last few points he needed before falling back into the drain and ending the game.

In the midst of the celebration of Dustin's unexpected victory, no one noticed El wiping her nose with her sleeve.

"Yes!" Lucas bellowed, giving Dustin a high five.

Sylvia jumped up and down, catching the boys' enthusiasm. "That was so much fun! You're so good at this game, Dustin!"

Dustin had an expression like he had just won the Nobel Prize, but he tried to play it cool. "Oh, I'm just average," he said, shrugging his shoulders.

Mike, Lucas, and Will looked at each other incredulously. Dustin had never been humble about winning a game or getting a high score in his life.

The group walked their bikes to the ice cream parlor down the street, but halfway there, Sylvia suddenly remembered an English assignment that she still needed to work on.

"I think I need to go home, you guys," she said, regretfully. "It takes me forever to write essays, so I'd better start now."

El frowned, but nodded. She gave Sylvia a hug. "Soon, we'll be study buddies," she promised, remembering Sylvia's words from earlier. Sylvia giggled. "I'll hold you to that."

Dustin's look of disappointment was replaced with shock when Sylvia asked him to take her home on his bike. "S…sure," he mumbled, already 80% sure by this point that he must have fallen into some sort of hallucination or fever dream several hours ago.

She put her hands lightly on his waist as she climbed behind him on the bike, and his estimate increased to 90%.

They rode in silence through the winding cul-de-sacs of Central Hawkins, their previous collegiality replaced once again by an inexplicable and unshakeable awkwardness. Both of them were trying to think of something to talk about, and both were coming up short.

"It's a left here," she told him, and she was surprised by how rough and strange her voice sounded in her ears. He just nodded curtly and sped confidently through the turn. Her stomach swooped and she clung a little tighter to his shoulders.

When they reached her house, he slowed to a stop and stepped off his bike. Feeling a strange courage all of a sudden, he offered her his arm and she took it as she swung her feet down to the pavement and disembarked.

"Thanks," she said, and when she saw how much he was blushing, the thought that he might have a crush on her suddenly reasserted itself in her brain. She couldn't stop wondering if it was really true. Did she want it to be true? She told herself she wasn't sure yet.

Meanwhile, Dustin was remembering the advice El had given him. _I think you should kiss her._ The idea had seemed preposterous last week, but now, with Sylvia staring at him and standing closer than she ever had before, it was starting to sound like a perfectly valid, if terrifying, suggestion.

They were interrupted by a the sound of a dog barking loudly. "Oh, that's Rusty," Sylvia said, turning towards her house in concern. "He's probably worried about me."

"Oh," Dustin said, unable to form any other comment.

"Well, uh… I'll see you at school!" Sylvia said, smiling and giving Dustin a friendly pat on the shoulder before rushing home.

"Bye," he said quietly, watching wistfully as she ran across the lawn and slipped around the back of the house. He stood there for a moment, then took a deep breath and jumped back on his bike, slowly pedaling home with his head in the clouds.


	9. Chapter 9

The next day, El woke up early and Joyce drove her over to Hopper's house for lessons, dropping her off on the way to work. Hopper had already heard about the plan for El to start school in a couple days - Joyce had asked him for his input on the idea - but he still smiled with genuine excitement when El told him about it as soon as she walked in the door. In that moment, he made a decision.

"Well, Ellie, if you're going to be starting school, we ought to get you some supplies," he said, grinning down at her.

"How do we get them?" she asked.

"We'll go shopping," he explained.

El's eyes lit up. She'd gone shopping a few times, mostly with Nancy or Joyce, and she really enjoyed it - not so much for the things she bought, but for the chance to explore the brightly lit and colorful stores they took her to.

Hopper and El got into his truck and drove to town, the windows rolled down and the radio playing what he called "oldies," music that made El feel comfortable and happy and made her want to sway her head back and forth. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the warm April breeze on her face while Hopper sang along to the radio.

 _I'll give you all I've got to give, if you say you love me too._

 _I may not have a lot to give, but what I've got I'll give to you._

 _I don't care too much for money, money can't buy me love._

 _Can't buy me lo-ove…_

They pulled into a parking near one of the department stores downtown. Not the one that Joyce was working at - Hopper didn't want her giving him an earful about spending his own money on El.

Instinctively, Hopper grabbed El's hand as they crossed the busy street, knowing she still wasn't used to dealing with traffic. The small gesture warmed her heart, giving her a special kind of happiness that she had only just discovered this past year, that "someone cares about me" feeling that always took her by surprise and made everything in the world look brighter.

First, they picked up some basics - notebooks, pencils, pens, folders to keep her papers in, paperclips and post-its and highlighters. El picked out a bright sunshine-yellow backpack and a matching pencil case. El stared at the clothing section long enough that Hopper got the hint and suggested she try some things on. He wasn't much of a fashion expert, but he knew that El ought to have some nice new clothes to wear to school.

El browsed around the racks, tentatively brushing her hand over various fabrics, admiring the colors and prints. With some encouragement from Hopper, she finally began to select a few things to try on - a few tee-shirts in different colors, a pair of blue jeans that reminded her of Nancy's, a white blouse with ruffles and lacy sleeves, a purple dress with a wide neck - and he showed her where the dressing room was, promising to be right outside in case she needed anything. The small enclosed space worried her a bit, but she practiced the deep breathing Joyce had taught her and focused on the soft fabric of the clothes she had found, and soon the fear passed.

With her first outfit on - the jeans and the white blouse - she turned and looked in the mirror. She studied her reflection, a small smile on her face. Her hair was getting longer every day, and her body looked healthy and strong as she had begun to put on weight. Even the weak sunlight of an Indiana winter had been able to take some of the pallor from her skin. Finally, she was starting to look like she belonged in the real world, like a girl who could sit next to Mike in class or ride through the streets of Hawkins like she owned the place.

Next she tried on the dress. The sleeves drooped fashionably off her shoulders and the swingy skirt made a pleasant swooshing sound when she moved. The color brought out her eyes and reminded her of the sunset. She never wanted to take it off.

"Doing okay in there?" Hopper called.

In response, she opened the door to show him the dress. "Is this good for school?" she asked, smiling hopefully.

Hopper was shocked by how grown up and sophisticated his little Ellie looked. In fact, the dress was a little _too_ grown up for his taste, to be honest - he was a bit overprotective and didn't want his innocent almost-daughter getting the _wrong_ kind of attention.

"You look beautiful, sweetheart," he told her, and she glowed at the compliment, but then he gave her the bad news. "But I think that's a little too fancy for school, El," he said gently.

She visibly wilted in disappointment. "Oh. Okay."

Hopper sighed and scratched behind his ear, feeling guilty. He really was a pushover at the end of the day. "But, if you really want it, I guess it wouldn't hurt for you to have a party dress, just in case."

El's eyes widened in excitement. "I can have it?"

He nodded. "Just make sure you find some regular school clothes, too," he said, in a voice that was trying to be stern.

She nodded, grinning ear to ear, and skipped back to the dressing room. Hopper leaned back in the store's chair. He had a feeling he was going to be here a while.

On Thursday night, El was so nervous and excited about starting school that she could barely go to bed. After staring at her ceiling for hours, she finally got up, not able to sit still for another minute. She walked out of her room and into the living room, where she was surprised to see Nancy and Jonathan sitting very close and – were they kissing? It looked kind of like kissing, but with more moving around. "Jonathan?" she said. He and Nancy both jumped back and stared at her.

"El! What – what are you doing up?" Jonathan said, looking guilty.

She shrugged. "Couldn't sleep." She stared at them curiously. "What are you doing?"

They both blushed, and Nancy hurried to stand up, grabbing her jacket. "I should go."

Jonathan frowned. "No… you can stay…" he tried to argue quietly, but she shook her head.

"It's late," she said. She hurried over and gave El a hug. "Good luck at school tomorrow, sweetie."

El nodded and smiled up at her 'big sister.' "Thanks."

Nancy gave Jonathan a wistful glance and rushed out the front door.

Jonathan stared after her for a beat, then he turned his attention to El. "Are you doing alright? Did you have a bad dream?" he asked, concerned. He had unfortunately gotten used to helping both El and Will through nightmares.

El shook her head. "I'm just nervous, about school."

"That's understandable," Jonathan said. He smiled down at her. "Will was really scared on his first day of school."

"Really?" El asked, surprised. She never pictured her friends having a 'first day,' at school – it just seemed like going to school was something they had always done.

"Oh, definitely," Jonathan said, chuckling at the memory. "Mom had to promise him that we'd have ice cream for dinner just to get him to leave the house." He glanced around, suddenly having an idea. "Come to think of it… I think I might have a picture around here." He walked over to the bookshelf in the corner and started scanning through it until he found what he was looking for – an old photo album. He brought it over and they sat on the couch, El leaning against him and looking over his shoulder. "Here we go," he said, flipping through the pages. He picked out a photo of a tiny brown-haired boy gripping a superhero lunch box, wearing clothes that were just a tad too big, smiling nervously towards the camera.

"Is that Will?" El asked. "He's so… little!"

Jonathan laughed. "He's still little, if you ask me. But I guess he has grown a bit since then… and oh look at this one, there's my mom with him." He pointed out another picture, where a younger-looking Joyce, her clothes brighter and more fashionable, her hair longer, standing with her arm around Will, waving at the camera, her hands a blur.

"Pretty," said El.

Jonathan smiled fondly at the photo. "Yeah, she is."

"Where are you?" El asked, flipping slowly through the photo album.

"I was taking the pictures," he explained. She nodded.

El pointed at a man in the corner of one of the photos, smoking a cigarette, turning away from the camera. "Who is that?" she asked.

Jonathan frowned. "That… that's my dad, Lonnie."

El studied Jonathan's expression. "You don't like him," she guessed.

Jonathan let out a short sigh and pursed his lips. "You're right," he said, finally.

"Why?" she asked. It felt important, somehow.

He shrugged. "Lonnie… he never really _got_ us. Me, and Will, and mom… he didn't understand us, I think."

She bit her lip and looked at her hands. "…Like me?" she murmured, sadly.

Jonathan stared at her, confused. "What do you mean, like you?"

"Like how I don't understand?" she said, her voice quiet.

He laughed and shook his head, giving her a hug. "No, that's not what I mean! El, that's not the same… Listen," he said, grabbing her hand, "You care about people, and you want to learn, and you understand much more than most, anyways. My dad…" he sighed, "It wasn't that he doesn't understand us. It's that he doesn't want to."

"No?" El asked. It was hard for her to imagine _not_ wanting to understand.

"He was always just… too busy with his own life. Too busy wanting to turn us into something that we weren't."

"Oh," said El. "Into what?"

Jonathan laughed bitterly. "Well, he wanted me and Will to be more like him… to be tough, you know, play football, go hunting, never talk about our feelings… all that macho stuff."

"What is hunting?" El asked.

Jonathan frowned at the memory and tried to think of a way to explain without scaring her. "It's like… it's something guys around here do, where they go out into the woods and shoot animals, like deer, or rabbits…" he stopped, feeling guilty at her outraged expression.

"They _kill_ them?" she said, eyes wide with dismay. " _Why?_ "

"Honestly… I don't really know," he said. "Because they can, and because it's tradition, I guess."

"Tradition?" she asked.

"It's like, something fathers do with their sons, and then they grow up and do it with their sons, and so on," he said, gesturing with his hands. "I know, El, it's awful."

At the words "fathers and sons," El glanced up at Jonathan. "Did you… _hunting_ … with Lonnie?"

Jonathan looked ashamed and shuffled his feet. "Yeah," he admitted. "Yeah, he made me go with him when I was a little younger than you."

"Did you…" she began. He nodded.

"A rabbit," he said, still not able to meet her eyes. "He told me I had to."

He was surprised to feel El reach out and wrap her small hands around his. "I understand."

He looked at her curiously, but her eyes were closed, as if she was trying to remember something but forget it at the same time.

He shivered, suddenly realizing that she had her own experience with a controlling father-figure. He wanted to say something, but he wasn't sure which words would comfort her and which would cause her pain.

"One day they brought me a cat in a cage," she said, almost robotically, as if she was trying to disassociate from the words, "and Papa said I had to hurt it."

Anger burned in his gut and he squeezed her hand tighter.

"It's not your fault," he told her. "Whatever happened in that place, it wasn't your fault, okay, El? You don't have to worry about it anymore. You're free."

She nodded and opened her eyes, coming back to reality. She nestled into his side. "The rabbit wasn't your fault, either," she said quietly. "You're free, now, too."

He smiled and quickly wiped his eyes before she noticed that he was crying. Then he laughed and hugged the little girl until she couldn't breathe. "When are you going to stop being so smart?" he teased, ruffling her hair.

She giggled, the serious mood lifted. "Never!"

"Oh yeah?" he asked, tickling her belly and making her shriek with laughter.

Joyce appeared in the doorway of the living room, wearing a bathrobe and looking tired. "What are you two doing up?" she scolded. "El has a big day tomorrow, and bedtime was hours ago."

"Sorry, Mama," El said, "I couldn't sleep."

Joyce's expression softened. "Well, come with me and I'll tuck you in. Jon, you better get to bed, too. I know you haven't been getting much sleep lately," she said, pointedly. Nancy had been staying over later and later at the Byers' these days.

Jonathan blushed. "Goodnight, Mom," he mumbled. He gave El a pat on the head. "Night, Elevator," he said with a grin, using one of his favorite nicknames for his new kid sister.

El smiled up at him. "Night!"

Joyce followed through on her promise to tuck El into bed, even acquiescing to the girl's request for a bedtime lullaby. Joyce sang the first song she could think of, a song she remembered from sing-a-longs at camp back when she was young.

 _Oh Shenandoah, I long to see you_

 _Way away, you rolling river_

 _Oh Shenandoah, I long to see you_

 _Away, I'm bound away_

 _'Cross the wide Missouri…_

Joyce's voice cracked on more than one occasion and she got the lyrics a bit mixed up, but El didn't mind in the slightest.


	10. Chapter 10

In the morning, Jonathan made El her favorite breakfast - strawberry Eggos and scrambled eggs - and Joyce brushed her hair. El chose to wear her new jeans and white lace blouse, proud of how grown up she looked. Jonathan used his new camera to take pictures of her posing on the front lawn, and she smiled to think that these photos might be placed next to the ones Jonathan showed her last night. Will left for school at the usual time, waving at El and promising to see her soon.

Although Joyce had planned to work on some vocabulary and spelling practice with El in the morning, they ended up just talking until it was time to leave. Joyce reminded El about a dozen times that this was just a "trial run" and if she decided she wanted to wait until next year to go to school that was fine.

"I'm sure you'll do great, honey," Joyce said, "but it'll be a big adjustment, especially at first."

El nodded. She was worried, but at the same time, she knew that her friends would help her.

Joyce grinned. "Well, of course you are!" She checked her watch. "Oh, look at that, we'd better get to the school. Is your backpack all ready? Let's go!"

Walking into the school, El was immediately overwhelmed. It seemed even bigger and louder than she remembered, and she felt like everyone was staring at her. Joyce leaned down and straightened the collar of El's jacket. "You look great, sweetie. Just remember to do whatever the teachers say and try to be friendly to the other kids. Oh, and don't…" she motioned at El's eyes and made a vague but frantic gesture with her hands. El tilted her head. "You know, ah, just be careful not to use your… Oh, hello Principal Baker, how are you doing?" Joyce quickly recovered as the Principal rounded the corner.

"Afternoon, Ms. Byers," he said warmly. "And you must be El!" he said, greeting the new student.

El nodded shyly.

"Well, we'll get you settled in soon. I'm sure you're anxious to get to class," he said.

Joyce hugged her tight and whispered, "When you get home, we'll have ice cream for dinner."

The principal walked her to her locker and she waited patiently while he showed her how to work the combination lock, even though she could have used her mind to open it quite easily. After that, he brought her to the science classroom, where she was relieved to see Mr. Clarke's familiar face. He smiled down at her.

"Hello, El!" he said. "I'm so excited to have you in my class!"

"Thank you," she said, politely. Other students began to filter in the door and she looked at them curiously, wondering if they were nice like Mike and Sylvia or bad like Troy.

She stayed standing at the front of the classroom, not sure where she was supposed to go. She looked around, but apparently none of her friends were in this class with her. She was starting to get very nervous when the bell rang, startling her. A few people laughed and she blushed.

Mr. Clarke began to speak. "Good afternoon class! Did everyone have a good lunch?"

Some kids nodded or said, "Yes, Mr. Clarke," while others ignored him or rolled their eyes.

"I want to introduce you all to a new student. Her name is El and she is going to be in class with us for the rest of the semester."

El looked out at the classroom and smiled nervously.

Mr. Clarke continued in an earnest tone. "El was home-schooled before, so please help show her around and give her a warm Hawkins Middle welcome, okay guys?" He pointed to a seat in the front of the class. "Why don't you sit here, El?" She nodded and hurried to sit down, just hoping that soon everyone would stop staring at her.

Mr. Clarke was quickly immersed in his lecture about the water cycle, and El found herself calming down and losing some of her self-consciousness, focused on understanding the lesson. She liked the way he drew pictures on the board and answered everyone's questions and sometimes even jumped around the room when he got excited.

Mr. Clarke is funny, she whispered to Mike in her mind.

"Now it's time to do some hands-on learning!" Mr. Clarke said. "I'm going to give each of you a worksheet, and I want you to work in pairs to label and draw each part of the water cycle.

He handed a stack of papers to the girl at the end of the row, and each student took a piece of paper from the pile as it was handed down the line.

She was so focused on the worksheet and trying to figure out what she was supposed to do that she didn't notice the boy next to her trying to get her attention. She felt someone poke her in the side and she whipped around, her eyes narrowed suspiciously. The boy who had poked her jumped in surprise.

"Woah, sorry!" he said, his hands up defensively. "I just… uh, I just wondered if you wanted to pair up?" he said sheepishly.

El squinted. "Pair… up?" she repeated.

"Yeah, um, because Mr. Clarke said we were supposed to work in pairs," he explained. "If you don't want to, that's okay, I guess…" he said, looking unsure.

She smiled, trying to seem friendlier. "Um, we can pair," she said. She was supposed to follow the instructions of the teachers, and try to make friends. Those were two pieces of advice she remembered from Joyce's pep talk this morning.

They worked on the diagram together – she remembered more of the lesson, but he had better handwriting, and although his drawing wasn't as good as Will's, it was good enough for science class. When they were finished, El stood up to give their worksheet to Mr. Clarke and then started gathering her things.

"Class isn't over yet, El," the boy she had been working with whispered, tugging at her sleeve. "You have to wait."

She looked around and noticed everyone staring at her again. She slunk down in her seat, embarrassed.

He chuckled. "Around here, you can't leave class until the bell rings."

El nodded. "I didn't know," she said.

"Don't worry about it," he reassured her. He stuck out his hand and she took it awkwardly. "I'm John," he said, grinning. "I hope you like Hawkins."

"Hi, John," she said, looking at him. He was taller than the boys she knew, barely seeming to fit in the classroom chair. His hair was the color of the wig she had worn that time she pretended to be Mike's cousin, and she momentarily wondered if his hair was fake too, before realizing that of course it wasn't.

"So… you were home-schooled, huh?" he said, looking at her curiously.

"…Yes," she said, without elaborating further.

"What's that like?" he asked, not bothered by her reticence.

"Um," she tried to think of what to say. "It's… well…" She blushed, always hating when she couldn't find the right words.

"This is pretty different, I guess," he interjected, and she smiled, relieved.

"Yes!" she said, nodding forcefully. Then she added, more quietly, "I'm nervous."

He smiled at her reassuringly. "You're gonna be fine." Just then the bell rang. "What's your next class?" he asked.

"Math," she said, closing her eyes to recall the schedule she had memorized. "With Mrs. Hepburn."

"Oh, I can show you where that is!" he said, grabbing his notebook and stuffing it hastily into his backpack. El followed him, glad to have made a new friend but still scanning the crowds of students for a familiar face.

Mike rushed out of History class and grabbed his Math textbook from his locker. He couldn't believe he was about to have his first ever class with El. His heart was beating fast and he couldn't wipe the smile off his face. Dustin met him at the lockers with a smirk. "Someone's excited to see Mrs. Hepburn today," he joked.

Mike couldn't even pretend to be annoyed. "Have you seen El yet?" he asked, craning his neck around to look for her. Dustin shook his head.

Suddenly she appeared at the other end of the hall and Mike caught his breath. She looked amazing – like she belonged there, but at the same time like she had come from some other world. It took him a second to register that she wasn't alone – she was walking next to some guy, who was smiling down at her and talking animatedly.

"Who is that?" Mike asked, a slight edge to his tone.

"Uh, that's John Hampton," Dustin said, confused. "We've known him since elementary school."

"No, I mean..." Mike shook his head in frustration, "Why is he talking to El?"

Dustin stared at Mike. "How would I know? He's probably just showing her around."

"Weird," Mike muttered, slamming his locker shut with just a little too much force.

Dustin shrugged and turned to wave at her. "Hey, El!"

El grinned with happiness and rushed over to them. "Hi Dustin!" she exclaimed. She caught Mike's eye and smiled at him so warmly that he forgot to be annoyed. "Hi, Mike!"

"I didn't know you had friends here already," John said. He had followed behind her and now looked a little unsure of what to do with himself. El turned back to him and nodded happily.

"I'm friends with Mike, and Dustin, and Lucas, and Will, and Sylvia and Kate and Melissa," she explained, counting them with her fingers. "But Mike is my favorite."

Mike didn't know whether to swell with pride or die of embarrassment, but he was certainly enjoying the surprise and discomfort on John's face, even as Dustin was on the verge of collapsing into hysterical laughter.

"Well, uh, you're certainly pretty popular for a new girl," John commented wryly. "I guess I'll see you in class tomorrow, then." He winked at her and sauntered away.

"Was something wrong with his eye?" El asked Mike.

Mike nodded seriously. "I think it's an infection." Dustin guffawed while Mike grabbed El's hand and tugged on it. "Come on, El, we'll show you where the classroom is."


	11. Chapter 11

Here's a 3,000 word chapter which I am publishing a day early because I CAN. and it is dedicated to all the kids out there who are absolutely fucking terrified and angry and sad and aren't old enough to have a gin and tonic so they have to read fanfic instead.

I'm here for you. We'll get through this together. PM me if you need to talk.

* * *

Mrs. Hepburn wasn't as engaging a teacher as Mr. Clarke, and her angular glasses and ruler-straight posture made her a bit intimidating, but she obviously knew her stuff. Mike and El sat next to each other in the front row, and Dustin sat behind them, joined – much to his surprise – by Sylvia Davis, who usually sat in the corner by a group of the more popular girls. Ever since Sylvia and El had gotten close, she'd started paying more attention to El's group of friends, and after the kitten-rescuing incident, she'd started regularly chatting with Dustin in the halls and partnering with him in class. He wasn't sure what to make of it and he was mostly terrified by the whole phenomenon, but he tried to play it cool and hoped that it meant he at least had some kind of small minuscule chance of getting her to like him.

Mike was struggling to pay attention to the lecture. He hadn't realized how distracting it would be to sit next to El in class. Every few seconds, he would look over at her, checking to see if she was following the lesson, making sure she was comfortable. It was strange seeing her in this context, taking notes from the blackboard and keying numbers into her little calculator. There was something nice about it, though – like she was finally where she was supposed to be, living a normal life, learning everything she could just the way she always wanted. It made his chest warm to see it.

She seemed so focused that he was surprised when she finally looked over and caught him watching her. She smiled and he instantly felt his stomach flip over. _Wow, she's beautiful._ He turned back to his notes, red faced.

"Now, there are five problems in the back of chapter eight that I want you all to work on. Let's have everyone break into teams of three." She assigned the groups, refusing to let the students choose their own. El, Mike, and Kate were put together in one group, much to their mutual relief. Dustin and Sylvia were put in a group with a stylish-looking girl with teased out blonde hair named Christine.

Christine re-located to the desk next to Sylvia and Dustin and gave Sylvia an air-kiss. "Oh my god, Vi, you are looking cute today," she said, and Sylvia blushed, obviously pleased. "Did I tell you about what happened at my party last weekend?" Christine said conspiratorially. Sylvia shook her head.

"You – you had a party?" she said, seeming a little nonplussed.

"Well, of course I _would_ have invited you, but you know how your parents are…" Christine sighed. "Bobby's older brother brought beer, and then John and his friends showed up, and then…"

"Um," interrupted Dustin, "which problem should we start with?"

Christine turned and stared at him like he was an insect. "Excuse me?"

"Uh, I mean, shouldn't we get started on the problems?" he said, scratching his neck nervously.

Christine rolled her eyes. "Can't you just, like, do them for us?" she suggested, waving her hand dismissively. "Sylvia and I absolutely _loathe_ math, right Vi?"

"Uh… yeah," Sylvia said, not able to meet Dustin's eye. They had just talked the other day about how much she enjoyed math class, but she evidently wasn't able to stand up to Christine's pressure. "Can you, um, figure out the answers?" she asked quietly.

Dustin looked at her in confusion. "Um… okay… if that's what you want…" he said, his eyes downcast in disappointment.

"Thanks _heaps_!" Christine said with fake cheerfulness, before turning back to Sylvia. "Now, as I was saying…"

El, Mike, and Kate watched the interaction with no small amount of frustration. "Who is that?" El asked Kate, frowning.

Kate rolled her eyes. "Christine Carley. She's the most popular girl in our class. Every few months she decides she wants Sylvia to join her clique, then she changes her mind and starts icing her out. It's exhausting and stupid but Sylvia falls for it every time."

"Clique?" El asked. "They ice her out?"

"A clique is a friend group," Kate explained, "and icing out is like, ignoring someone."

"Oh," El said, frowning. "That isn't nice."

"No, it isn't," agreed Kate. "But just try telling Sylvia that…"

They finished the problems together and Mike was impressed by how quickly El found the answers. She really was catching on to this stuff fast.

Ms. Hepburn called on a few students at random to answer the questions.

"Miss Davis, please tell the class the solution to problem three," she said. Sylvia quickly grabbed the answer sheet from Dustin. "Uh, 432.68," she read off the paper.

"And please explain to everyone how you arrived at that answer."

Sylvia stared at the teacher, terrified. She had barely looked at the problem.

"Um, well…" she stammered. She glanced desperately at her teammates. Christine was giggling at her predicament while Dustin looked worried. "That is, I mean, you know, what we did was…"

"We took the square root!" Dustin interjected, making Sylvia smile at him in gratitude. "And then…"

Ms. Hepburn cut him off. "Mr. Henderson, your name is Mr. Henderson, not Miss Davis, is it not?" she said sharply.

"Y-yes, Ma'am," he said, turning red.

"So I will thank you not to interrupt another student when she is speaking, is that clear?"

"Yes, ma'am," mumbled Dustin, defeated.

"Now, Miss Davis, you will explain to the class how you and your group solved this problem, or I will send you to the principal's office for plagiarism. I will not allow a student of mine to take credit for another student's work."

Sylvia seemed to almost shrink into the floor, unable to speak. When El saw that her friend's eyes were turning red with tears, she knew she had no choice.

The whole class started with surprise when the fire alarm suddenly went off. Mike instinctively turned to El, worried that she would be frightened of the loud sirens and bright flashing lights, but when he saw the smile of victory on her face he realized what she had done.

"Everyone, form an orderly line and walk quietly outside to the flagpole," called Ms. Hawkins, grabbing her keys from her desk.

Mike grabbed El's hand and pulled her out the door. Dustin followed behind, keeping a close eye on Sylvia, who was still sniffling a little as she walked.

"Are you… are you okay, Sylvia?" he asked, quietly. He thought about putting a hand on her shoulder to comfort her but couldn't quite muster up the courage. Instead he just smiled sympathetically, his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah, I just…" she sighed, trying to stop her tears, "I'm embarrassed. I'm usually… well, I'm usually not like that. I actually – I _like_ math, you know?" She bit her lip.

Dustin nodded. "I know." He caught her eye and smiled at her. "Hepburn has a stick up her butt."

Sylvia snorted and Dustin grinned. He reached over and pulled a tissue from Mike's jacket pocket.

"Hey!" said Mike, annoyed. "Ever heard of personal space?"

Dustin ignored him and handed the tissue to Sylvia. "Mike carries tissues with him because El gets a lot of nose-bleeds," he explained. "Speaking of which," he said, craning his neck to look at her and spotting the tell-tale red stain over her lip, "nice work, El."

Sylvia looked confused. "What did El do?"

"Nothing," Dustin and Mike said in unison. El just giggled and Sylvia rolled her eyes, assuming it was some kind of inside joke.

The kids all streamed out of the school and gathered outside, laughing and running around, unable to contain their excitement at getting out of class early. El was once again struck by how many children there must be in the world. There was a time in her life when she had believed she was the only one.

Melissa, Will, and Lucas joined them by the flagpole, each one greeting El excitedly. Will didn't suspect anything, but Lucas put the pieces together pretty quickly when he saw El wiping at her nose. "El," he whispered, "I thought you weren't supposed to use your powers at school."

"I had to," she explained. "Sylvia was in trouble."

"Aw, man," he said, "You should've been there this morning when we had that pop quiz in History class."

Suddenly John Hampton appeared. "Fancy meeting you here," he said to El, smoothly.

She pretended to know what that meant. "Hello."

He looked at the three girls behind her and smiled. "These must be those other friends you were talking about."

Sylvia looked at John curiously. "You know El?" she asked.

"Oh, me and El go way back," he smirked, winking at El and making her wonder, again, what was wrong with his eye.

When Mike saw El smiling at this douchebag John, he didn't know what to do. He suddenly felt very angry, like he wanted to kick something, hard. He had never been very good at controlling his temper, and he knew it was when he got like this that he made bad decisions and said things that he would regret. So he decided to back away, sulking to the other side of the playground. The other boys followed him, unsure what was happening, while El looked on, confused.

"Hey John!" a high-pitched voice called out. After having retreated to her core circle of friends, Christine was once again approaching them. "Do you know who pulled the alarm?" she asked, twirling her hair.

John shrugged. "Whoever did it is gonna be in deep shit, I can tell you that."

Christine giggled. "We were in Math class and good-girl Sylvie here was about to get sent to the principal's office for cheating, can you believe it?"

Sylvia blushed and shook her head. "I didn't – I wasn't – " She shot a glare of hurt at Christine, obviously unhappy with having the incident brought up again.

John seemed uninterested in the story, still focused on El. "So, do you like basketball?" he asked.

" _What is basketball?"_ El asked Mike in her mind.

Halfway across the schoolyard, Will, Dustin, and Lucas were more than a little shocked when they heard Mike shout, out of nowhere and seemingly to no one, "It's a stupid game!"

"Um, Mike, what's going on?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah, what's a stupid game?" Will added.

Mike gestured over to where El stood chatting with her new friends. " _Hampton_ is telling El about _basketball_. Dumb jock," he muttered, kicking a clod of dirt.

Dustin laughed. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were jealous, Wheeler."

Mike rolled his eyes. "I am _not_ jealous," he insisted.

"Wait, since when does El hang out with John Hampton and Christine Carley?" asked Will, squinting.

"I told you she was going to be popular," Lucas said.

"You guys, please shut up," Mike said. "El is saying something."

Dustin rolled his eyes. "Why can't she just come over and talk to you? Lazy."

Lucas gave Dustin a deadpan look. "Seriously. You're calling _El_ lazy? If you could move things with your mind like she can, you would never get off the couch again, and you know it."

"Nuh-uh!"

"Oh, no, Dustin doesn't really think you're lazy," Mike said in the tone he only used with El, punching Dustin in the shoulder as he said it.

"Sorry, El," Dustin chimed in.

"Oh. Um, yeah. Yeah, I guess so, if that's what you want to do," Mike mumbled, looking mildly heartbroken.

Dustin, Will, and Lucas looked at each other with concern.

"Um, Mike?" Will said. "What happened?"

"She's going to a basketball game," Mike said. " _His_ basketball game. Tonight."

Mike avoided El for the rest of the day, even as everyone else in the group congratulated her on her first day of school and chatted about how it had gone. El noticed his odd behavior but didn't quite know how to ask about it. A part of her wondered if he didn't like having her at school with him, but even as prone to self-doubt as she was, she still knew that didn't make any sense. He'd told her over and over again how much he was looking forward to having her in his classes, had encouraged her even when she felt sure she would never be able to catch up. So it must be something else - but what?

Sitting in the basketball stands with Kate, she asked her what she thought, but the other girl just shrugged. "Who knows why boys act the way they do," she said. "I'm sure it's fine."

John entered the court and immediately broke into a grin after spotting them in the crowd. Kate giggled. "Besides, it looks to me like you've got a back up plan if things with Mike don't work out."

El frowned, not sure what Kate was talking about. It gave her a worried feeling in her stomach that she tried her best to ignore. She put her energy into watching the game and attempted to understand the logic of it.

Mike went to his room as soon as he got home and tried to concentrate on his homework. He couldn't seem to get this nasty painful feeling out of his gut.

Mike knew that he would never care about any other girl the way he cared about Eleven, but how did she feel? He knew she had a "crush" on him, they'd talked about that before, and they held hands a lot and kissed sometimes, but honestly, he was pretty much the first boy her age she'd ever met. Maybe once she started meeting other boys, she'd change her mind.

He got mental messages from El now and then, random comments and questions about unfamiliar words, but he didn't respond.

 _Why doesn't she just ask John,_ snapped a bitter and unpleasant side of himself.

He knew he was being immature but he just couldn't trust himself to talk to her right now. He needed some time to figure out how to deal with these new, unexpected feelings. So he kept quiet and hoped she would understand.

It was just after twilight when he heard a soft tapping on his bedroom window. He looked over and jumped in alarm at the sight of a face peering in. Then he recognized the face and he almost laughed, walking over and sliding open the sill.

"Did I scare you?" El asked, looking worried.

"No," he lied. He stared at her and leaned over to see her legs dangling in the air. She didn't seem to be standing on anything and yet here she was at his second story window. "Are – are you floating?"

"Yes," she said, biting back a smile.

"El, that's too much in one day," he said with concern.

She shrugged. "It's fine. It's like how Steve used to sneak into Nancy's room, but easier, because there's no climbing." She looked at him shyly. "I wanted to see you."

He smiled, suddenly feeling ten pounds lighter. "Come on in then, just be quiet. I don't want my mom freaking out." She clambered through the window and he steadied her on the other side.

She started to wipe her nose on her sleeve, but he pulled her arm away and offered his sleeve instead. "Your shirt is prettier than mine," he explained, matter-of-factly.

El smiled and accepted the offered fabric. "Thanks."

"By the way, why aren't you at the game?" he asked, attempting to sound casual.

She shrugged. "It was boring."

"Really?" he said, trying to conceal his glee. _Take that, jock!_

El nodded. "Yes. But John was good, I think."

Mike frowned. _Damn it._ "Why do you say that?"

"He made a lot of passkets," El explained, "and whichever team has the most passkets wins the game."

Mike tried not to snort. "Passkets?"

"Yes?" El said, wrinkling her eyebrows.

"Did anyone else hear you say _passkets_?" Mike asked, a grin creeping onto his face despite his best efforts.

El began to understand. "Is it wrong?" she asked, looking confused.

Mike chuckled. "It's baskets, El. With a B _,"_ he whispered.

El's eyes lit up. "Oh! That's why they call it Basket-Ball?"

Mike nodded.

She shrugged. "I thought, you know, they pass the ball, so it's a passket."

"Ah, that makes sense," he said, smiling. Then his expression hardened. "So John is pretty good, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess," El said. She sat down on his bed and began fiddling with one of his Rubik's cubes. "Why didn't you answer any of my questions tonight?" she asked, quietly.

He sighed. "I don't know, I was just busy," he mumbled.

"Friends don't lie," El reminded him. He almost rolled his eyes. That line was really going to haunt him forever.

"I just… well… I don't like John, very much, ok?" he said, staring at his hands.

She looked shocked. "Why not?"

"I… I don't know," he told her.

El seemed worried. "Is he bad? A mouth-breather?" She frowned angrily. "Does he hurt you?" she asked.

Mike shook his head. "No. No. Nothing like that. He's… actually a nice guy," he admitted, sighing.

She was more confused then ever. "If he is nice… why don't you like him?"

"I don't know."

She tilted her head, considering this. "So… do you want me to not be friends with him?"

"No, listen El," he said, grabbing her hand and looking into her eyes, "You should be friends with whoever you want. You should do what you feel like doing and be who you feel like being, okay? That's what I want for you. _Nobody_ gets to control you any more, least of all me."

"Okay," she said, her eyes wide, trying to take in what he was telling her. Then she frowned. "You still shouldn't have _iced_ me."

"Iced you?" he repeated, confused.

"Ignored," she explained. "Like Kate told us about."

Mike half-smiled and wrapped her in a hug. "You're right," he said. "I'm sorry."

She giggled and laid her head on his shoulder, nestling into his side. "'s okay."

Just then, Mike's door rattled. "Michael, it's time for dinner!" his mom called out.

"One second!" he yelled. He waited for the sound of her footsteps descending the staircase, then turned and smiled wistfully at El.

"Want to wait up here like old times?" he suggested, only half-joking. "I'll bring you my leftovers."

El shook her head. "I need to go home, anyway." She squeezed his hand. "See you tomorrow?" she asked, ducking her head.

Gathering his nerve, he put his hand under her chin, lifted her head up and kissed her gently on the lips. "See you tomorrow," he agreed.

El's eyes shone and her face was pink, her mouth quirked up into a lovely, dreamy smile.

Mike felt victory warm in his chest. _Take that, Hampton._

"Michael, we're waiting for you!" His mom yelled up the stairs.

"OKAY!" He called back. El giggled as she slipped out his window.

"Night, El," he whispered.

"Night, Mike."


	12. Chapter 12

Although there was much about school life that seemed strange to El, within a week she began to settle into a new routine. She always woke up excited, looking forward to chatting with Sylvia in the hallway and sharing notes with Mike. She even enjoyed spending time with John, despite his odd quirks like winking and calling her "Ella."

On Friday El came to school a little early and joined the boys for lunch. When Sylvia spotted her across the cafeteria, she brought Kate and Melissa over to join them. Lucas was a little annoyed by how crowded their table was getting, Will felt shyer than usual with all the noise, and Dustin was too nervous to even touch his PB&J with Sylvia sitting next to him, but nobody complained.

"How is your English project going?" Sylvia asked Mike. He swallowed a bite of sandwich and grimaced.

"It's taking longer than I thought. But at least I got to pick an interesting writer this time. My English teacher last year said science fiction didn't count as literature," Mike complained, rolling his eyes.

Sylvia shrugged. "I don't really like science fiction much, personally."

The boys stared at her like she had personally insulted one of their mothers. "What do you mean, you don't like sci-fi?" Dustin said, crumbs falling from his mouth. "What's this, then?" He pointed at her Star Wars lunch box.

"Oh, that doesn't count," Sylvia objected. "Star wars isn't really sci-fi."

"You've got to be kidding me!" Dustin exclaimed, beginning a heated debate that could have gone on for several hours if lunch period had been long enough to accommodate it.

"Ahem," came a voice from them. El turned around and saw John smiling at her. "Hey, Ella!" he said. "How's it going?"

She grinned. "It's going awesome!" she said. It was a word she had learned recently and she felt like using it all the time now.

"Good, good," he said, scratching behind his ear. "So, um, I was wondering… I'm having a party tomorrow, and I thought maybe, if you're not busy or anything, maybe you want to come?"

El's eyes went wide. She glanced at Sylvia, who looked equally surprised, and Mike, who was avoiding her gaze for some reason.

"I don't know," she said. "I don't know if I like parties."

John nodded, expecting her to be intimidated by the idea. "You can bring your friends, if you want," he told her, gesturing at Sylvia, Kate, and Melissa.

"Can I bring all my friends?" she asked, biting her lip and subtly tilting her head towards Mike.

John chuckled and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Well, I guess so, if that's the only way you'll come."

She nodded. Then she remembered a phrase Joyce had taught her. "The more… the merry… merrier… right?" she said, smiling.

John guffawed. "Sure." He walked away, saying over his shoulder, "56 North Oakland, 8 o'clock."

El grinned, looking satisfied with herself, while the rest of them just stared at her. "Did she just get us invited to a cool-kid party?" Melissa asked, flabbergasted.

"Seems that way," Kate said, giggling.

"Do we have to go?" Lucas said. "They're just going to laugh at us, anyway."

"I think it'll be fun," Sylvia said. She linked arms with El. "We can get dressed up and maybe there'll be dancing!"

"Dancing?" El said, glancing at Mike under her lashes and feeling a fluttery sensation in her stomach. She gave him a little shove and he finally looked at her. He seemed uncertain.

"Do you really want me to go with you?" he whispered to her.

She nodded, her big eyes staring at him hopefully. "Please?"

He grinned and grabbed her hand under the table, swinging it back and forth. "Okay. Then we're going."

The girls all gathered at Sylvia's house on Saturday afternoon to get ready for the party together. El brought her new dress and Kate brought her seemingly endless supply of makeup. El sat on a chair in Sylvia's bedroom while Kate gave her a makeover.

"Your eyes are so pretty, El," Kate said, brushing sparkly eyeshadow over her eyelids.

El blushed. "Thank you…" she started to say, but Kate shushed her.

"Stay still!" she warned gently. "Now, look up at the ceiling so I can do your mascara," she said, brandishing a small stick covered in what looked like black paint.

The mascara made El's eyes water, but she didn't complain, too fascinated by this strange process and enjoying the attention, even though it made her feel shy. It reminded her of the makeover Mike had given her last fall, but where Mike had been hesitant and clumsy, Kate's movements were sure and obviously well-practiced. Kate brushed pink blush on the apples of El's cheeks and applied waxy red lipstick to El's mouth.

When El saw herself in the mirror, she caught her breath. She didn't know what kind of magic powers Kate possessed, but somehow she had been utterly transformed.

"You look like a movie star!" Melissa enthused.

Sylvia grinned. "Mike is gonna lose his mind."

Kate giggled and whispered in Sylvia's ear. "John, too."

El just stared at her reflection. _Pretty_ wasn't a strong enough word to describe how she felt.

Mike, Dustin, Lucas, and Will arrived at John's house a little before eight, and immediately felt so uncomfortable that they almost turned right around to go back home. They didn't know a single person there - well, they knew their names, but not much else - and they sat on the living room sofa trying to ignore all the stares and whispers of the so-called 'cool kids.' If it had been up to Will and Lucas, they would have bailed immediately, but Dustin was looking forward to seeing Sylvia, and Mike had no intention of leaving El alone at John Hampton's house party.

"Um, thanks for coming, guys…" John said to them, trying to hide his discomfort. "Can I get you anything? Beers, maybe?"

"We don't drink!" Will blurted out loudly, and the others cringed in embarrassment.

"Okay, well, that's cool… um, sorry, I have to go say hi to someone…" John said, making up an excuse to get away from the awkwardness.

"Will, can you _try_ to not embarrass us for like two seconds," whispered Lucas harshly.

"What, were you seriously going to start drinking beer with John Hampton?" Will asked, incredulous. "Your mom would kill you."

"No! I was just going to take some and then pretend to drink it," Lucas explained. "Beer tastes nasty anyway."

At that moment the door opened and the girls - El, Sylvia, Melissa, and Kate - entered the house. They looked almost as nervous as the boys felt, but there was excitement in their faces all the same as they looked around at the crowd.

Both Mike and Dustin were stunned into silence. El was wearing her new off-the-shoulder dress, the purple fabric contrasting with her pale, creamy skin and dark hair so that she seemed to glow in the dim light of the party. The sight of her bare shoulders made Mike feel uncomfortably protective and nervous. He suddenly didn't know what to do with his hands.

Dustin was going through a similar crisis, although his experience was more one of despair. Sylvia was wearing a black dress that gave her an air of almost unbearable cool. He picked at a string on his khakis nervously. He didn't see any way for him to ever even begin to measure up.

Luckily for Mike and Dustin, their two friends were far from tongue-tied. "El! Over here!" Will called out, waving at the girls.

El grinned and pulled Sylvia over to the couch with her. She slid in next to Mike, gazing curiously at his flushed face while he stared straight ahead.

 _Pretty?_ she asked Mike silently.

Mike had to bite back a laugh. The idea that this girl, of all people, should still need to ask that question was absolutely absurd.

He turned and met her gaze, and El blushed at the intense, searching expression on his face. He nodded slightly and she felt warm all the way down to her toes.

"Ella!" John said, approaching from the side of the room. He grabbed her hand casually and pulled her off the couch. She followed him, smiling amicably, while Mike held onto the sofa cushion with all the force he had, grinding his teeth.

With the boundless confidence that came from being the tallest and most popular boy in the school, John threw an arm over her shoulder and escorted her to the kitchen. "You look beautiful, by the way," he told her, and she stared at him, not sure how to respond. She glanced back at Mike and the look in his eyes now almost frightened her, it was so unfamiliar. She didn't know how to process it.

"Do you want something to drink?" John asked. She nodded and he handed her a cup filled with dark brown liquid. It looked like Pepsi, but when she took a sip it was incredibly bitter. She immediately spit it back into the cup, gagging.

John looked amused. "I guess you don't like beer, huh?"

She shook her head, grimacing.

"Sorry about that, I should have warned you," he said. He pulled a can of 7-Up from the fridge and handed it to her. She took a cautious sip, but then she smiled at the sweet taste.

"Better?" he asked, and she nodded.

He smiled. "Good."

Sylvia ran over and grabbed El by the hand. "Oh my god, you have to come dance with me, El! I love this song!" she squealed, pulling El over to the impromptu dance floor in John's living room.

 _The phone rings in the middle of the night,_

 _My father yells, "Whatcha gonna do with your life?"_

 _Oh daddy dear, you know you're still number one,_

 _but girls, they wanna have fun…_

Sylvia knew all the words and sang along with abandon, twirling El around as they danced. By the third chorus, El had caught on to the gist of the lyrics, mouthing the words quietly as she swayed back and forth.

 _When the working day is done_

 _Girls just wanna have fun_

 _They just wanna, they just wanna…_

By the time the final instrumentals faded out, El and Sylvia were out of breath, panting and giggling hysterically. El felt a peculiar kind of joy bubbling up from her heart and she knew she never wanted to forget this moment, as ordinary as it might have seemed to most.

A new song came on, slower and softer, and Sylvia looked down at the ground, her face turning pink. "This song is so romantic," she sighed to no one in particular. "I wish I had someone to slow-dance with."

 _Slow-dance._ El remembered that word. Quickly, she sent a message to Mike. _Dustin should slow-dance with Sylvia_ , she told him.

Mike nudged Dustin. "Hey man, El says you should go dance with Sylvia."

Dustin blanched. "No way."

Mike rolled his eyes. "You spent all that effort convincing El to help you out, and now you aren't even going to take her advice?"

"I'll take her advice when it isn't insane," Dustin objected. "I can't just go up to Sylvia and ask her…"

"Hey Dustin," a voice from behind them called. Dustin turned around, immediately blushing red. Sylvia was smiling at him, her hand extended. "Do you want to dance?" she asked.

"O… okay," he managed to stutter, following behind her with an expression like he'd been struck by lightning.

Mike watched with a grin as Sylvia swayed with Dustin on the dance floor, putting her arms around his neck. Dustin stood there awkwardly for a moment or two before finally placing his hands hesitantly on her waist.

 _Good for them_ , Mike thought. He noticed El hanging to the side of the dance floor, now without a partner. He began to make his way towards her, trying to ignore the rush of nerves he felt when they locked eyes.

Unfortunately, he wasn't the only one headed towards El. John Hampton got to her first, and the sight of him whispering in El's ear made Mike's blood boil. He stood stock-still as he watched John pull El towards him and begin to slow dance.

Mike didn't know what to do. He thought El looked a little uncomfortable, but he couldn't be sure, and as much as he wanted to go over and demand that John take his hands off El right that moment, he didn't want to make a fool of himself if it turned out this was what El wanted.

 _Was_ this what El wanted? Mike felt like throwing up.

Meanwhile, El was trying to understand why her friend John was trying to slow dance with her. Slow dances were for crushes, not just-friends, right? That was what she had assumed. But it wouldn't make any sense for John to have a crush on her. So why was he slow-dancing?

She looked around the room, wondering if Mike could help explain, but when she finally spotted him he was putting on his coat and walking out the door, his head down. Quickly she pulled away from John and rushed through the crowd to follow him.

"Mike, wait!" she called when they were both outside. "Where are you going?"

Mike looked at her in surprise, then he frowned. "I'm going home," he muttered.

"Why?" she asked, bewildered.

"I'm just… tired," he lied. "This party is boring."

"Oh," she said, disappointed. "I like it."

He smiled sadly at her. "I'm glad, El. You should stay. Don't worry about me - I'll be fine."

"Okay…" she said, surprised.

"Hey Ella!" John called out the front door. "We're gonna play a game in the basement, come on!"

"Bye, El," Mike murmured as he hopped on his bike and pedaled away. El stared at his receding form for several minutes before turning to rejoin the party.


	13. Chapter 13

El followed John to the basement where they joined a group of excited party guests, including Sylvia and Christine, in a circle on the floor. Dustin, Lucas, and Will were close behind. El turned to Sylvia. "What game is this?" she asked.

Sylvia giggled nervously. "It's called 'spin the bottle.'"

"How do you win?" El asked. "Are there teams?"

Sylvia shook her head. "It's not that kind of game… It's a kissing game," she whispered, blushing.

El's eyes went wide.

"Basically, you spin the bottle and whoever it points to, you have to kiss them," Sylvia explained.

El didn't think she wanted to kiss anybody in this particular room - the only person she would have wanted to kiss had already left - but when she started to stand up, Sylvia tugged at her sleeve and looked up at her with puppy-dog eyes.

"Please don't leave," she said. "I've never played before and I'm too nervous to stay by myself."

El hesitated but ultimately nodded. _A friend is someone you'd do anything for_.

She watched as one kid after another got their wishes fulfilled or their hopes crushed by the direction of the spinning bottle. She used her powers to keep the bottle pointed away from her and her friends - that is, until the right moment.

"Okay, it's Sylvia's turn," said Christine.

Sylvia giggled. "Oh, alright."

She gingerly put her fingers on the bottle and gave it a twirl. Everyone watched it spin eagerly – except for Lucas and Will, who were watching El and knew _exactly_ where the bottle was going to land.

Sure enough, it stopped mid-spin, pointing directly at Dustin. He stared down at the bottle, unable to believe this was actually happening.

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" the kids chanted. He peeked over at Sylvia and saw that she was blushing, which made him blush even harder.

"You – we don't – we don't have to –" he mumbled, barely meeting her eyes.

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, shush." He wasn't sure whether she was talking to him or the crowd, but then she leaned over and put her lips on his and things like that didn't matter anymore. He almost forgot about the crowd of onlookers, forgot that it was a party game. It didn't feel like a game. And the way she looked at him afterwards – breathless and blushing and grinning ear to ear – made him hope that it wasn't a game to her either.

The group cheered and John gave Dustin a pat on the back. "Nicely done, dude," he said. Dustin shrugged, not taking his eyes off of Sylvia.

"Oh my god, Sylvie," Christine said, loudly. "Was that your first kiss? It was, wasn't it?"

Sylvia turned red and bit her lip.

Christine laughed mockingly and turned to the girl beside her. She acted like she was whispering, but everyone could hear her. "Can you imagine, Toothless Henderson as your first kiss? What a tragedy."

The girl nodded. "Like kissing a baby."

"Or a black hole," snorted Christine.

Dustin felt like he had been punched in the gut. He stared desperately at Sylvia for reassurance, but she looked away, avoiding his eyes.

"What did you say?" said Lucas to Christine, furious.

She ignored him, looking over at John. "It's your turn next, isn't it, babe?"

He glared at her. "Christine, come on. That wasn't cool."

"I'm just saying what everyone's thinking," she said, shrugging dismissively. "Sylvia agrees with me, right Vi?"

Sylvia stared at her hands.

"Right, Sylvia?" Christine repeated, slightly louder with a subtle but menacing glare.

"Um, yeah," Sylvia mumbled.

Swallowing a sob, Dustin stood up and rushed up the stares and out of the house.

"Dustin, wait!" Sylvia called out. She started to stand up to go after him, but Christine grabbed her wrist and shook her head.

"Don't waste your time worrying about him," Christine told Sylvia. "It's harsh, but you're totally out of his league. The sooner he figures that out, the better."

"That's our friend you're talking about!" Lucas shouted. Lucas glared at Christine and Sylvia, looking about ready to start a fight.

"Let's go, Lucas," Will said, tugging at his sweater and trying to prevent an altercation. "These guys aren't worth the energy."

Lucas sighed. "Okay." But then he turned back for one last harsh word with Sylvia. "Stay away from us, and stay away from Dustin!" he told her, his voice full of disgust.

"I… I'm sorry…" Sylvia mumbled, but they ignored her.

El followed Lucas and Will up the basement steps, through the living room and onto the front lawn. They looked around for Dustin, but he had obviously ridden off somewhere.

"Hey El, do you have your bike?" Will asked, quietly. She shook her head.

"I'm gonna bike home and get Jonathan, and then he'll drive over here and pick you up. Lucas is gonna go look for Dustin. Would you be okay here by yourself for a little bit?"

El nodded, staring at the ground and rubbing her arms anxiously. She knew that Dustin was really upset, but she also knew Sylvia hadn't meant to hurt his feelings. And ultimately, El worried that it was her fault for creating the situation in the first place.

Dustin rode his bike through the dark streets of Hawkins, tears falling faster than the warm spring breeze could dry them away. He felt like a moron. He couldn't believe he had ever thought any girl – much less someone as pretty and popular as Sylvia – would actually be interested in him. She was probably grossed out by him, or else felt sorry for him. He pedaled faster, wanting to scream. _Why do I have to be such a freak? Why can't I just be normal?_

After a few blocks, he heard a voice call out his name.

"Dustin! Dustin, wait up!"

He looked behind him and saw Lucas barreling down the street on his bike. Dustin frowned. "Go away!" he yelled, pedaling faster.

"Dustin! Come on, man!"

"No!"

"I'll give you a comic book if you stop and talk to me!"

Finally this offer seemed to get through to Dustin. As they turned the corner in front of the old Hawkins playground, he stopped his bike abruptly and collapsed onto the field, panting heavily.

Lucas sat down next to him and began absentmindedly tugging at the spring grass as he looked worriedly at Dustin.

"Dustin, are you okay?"

Dustin chuckled. "Yeah, I'm fantastic. I kissed my crush and then she said I was disgusting. It's just all coming up roses right now for me."

Lucas rolled his eyes. "First of all, she didn't say that. Secondly, who cares what she thinks?

Dustin sighed, exasperated. "You don't have a crush on anyone. You don't understand what it's like."

"I've had crushes before!" Lucas objected.

Dustin stared at him incredulously. "No way."

Lucas rolled his eyes. "Just because I didn't blabbermouth about it to everyone like you and Mike, doesn't mean it didn't happen."

Dustin's eyes narrowed. "Who was it?"

Lucas chuckled nervously. "Okay, that's not the point."

"What's the point, then?"

Sighing, Lucas lay down on his back next to Dustin and looked up at the stars. "The point is, this stuff can hurt sometimes. Crushes and stuff. But whether someone likes you back or not, it doesn't change who you are. That's what I think."

El sat on John's front porch, gazing up at those same stars. She heard someone cough behind her and looked to see John smiling at her from the doorway.

"Hey, there," he said. "Did you decide to stick around?"

"I'm waiting for my brother," she explained.

His face fell slightly. "Oh." He frowned guiltily, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I just wanted to say… I'm sorry about Christine. The stuff she said was way out of line."

El shrugged. "She's a mouth-breather."

John let out a chuckle and looked at her admiringly. "That's what I like about you, El."

El cocked her head. "What is?"

He smiled, sitting down next to her on the porch swing, stretching out his long legs. "You're not like the other girls. You always say what you're thinking."

El frowned. "You like that I am… not like others?" This confused her.

"Well, yeah," he said, sheepishly. He stared at her for a moment, then added, "You're very honest, I guess."

"Oh. Um, thank you," El said, not sure what else to say.

John looked like he was deciding on something. "So, um, I think I should be honest with you, okay?"

El nodded.

Suddenly, John put his face right next to hers, so she could see his wide blue irises and the slight blonde stubble on his chin. She realized what he was trying to do about a second before it happened, and his lips had barely grazed hers before she put her hands up to push him away, ducking backwards frantically.

"What are you doing?" she said, frowning in confusion.

"Kissing you," he told her, in a tone that implied, _isn't it obvious?_

She shook her head, blushing.

His eyes were half-closed and he smiled at her flirtatiously. "Oh, you don't know how? Don't worry, it's easy once you get the hang of it." He began to lean forward again, confident that he had solved the problem.

"No, no!" she insisted, jerking her body away from him, her voice getting louder and more insistent.

He looked at her in confusion. "What?"

El took a deep breath and pointed at him. "Friend."

John tilted his head. "I don't understand." He was beginning to look a little hurt.

She bit her lip, trying to explain why she didn't want to kiss him. She wasn't sure she could find the right words."We… are friends. _Mike_ is taking me to the snowball, so _you_ can't…" she gestured vaguely to her mouth.

John frowned. "But the snowball is a year away."

El shrugged. "I know."

John looked annoyed. "Mike… Is he your boyfriend or something?"

"I don't know," El admitted. She had heard the word before but wasn't sure what it meant, or if it applied to her and Mike.

John was more confused than ever. "So why can't we…"

El smiled apologetically. "I told you before. He's my favorite."

John frowned. A part of him had known this all along, but he had hoped she would change her mind. "Oh. Still?"

"Yes," she said simply. _Always will be_ , she thought to herself.

John's face was turning red and he stuck his hands in his pockets, leaning away from her and looking down at his shoes. "Oh. I see. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have… that was stupid." He shook his head, mentally berating himself.

"It's okay," El shrugged. She knew what it was like to misread a situation or do the wrong thing at the wrong time.

John smiled at her wistfully. "Look, you're a great girl. Mike is… Mike is really lucky, you tell him that."

El nodded seriously, and John laughed.

"So… will you still help me in Science class?" he asked, when what he meant to say was, _will you forgive me for being a complete and total blockhead?_

El smiled. "Promise."

Just then, Sylvia appeared in the doorway. "Hey… hey El," she mumbled.

El looked at her, not sure what to say. Jon ducked back inside, sensing that this was meant to be a private conversation.

"I'm sorry, El. I'm sorry for hurting Dustin's feelings. I don't know what I was thinking.. I just, I don't know, the whole kissing thing caught me off-guard, and Christine was pressuring me, and…"

El looked at Sylvia. "You have a crush on Dustin," she said simply.

Sylvia turned red. She considered trying to deny it, but El seemed so sure. "Yeah. Yeah, I do."

"Well, you should tell Dustin that," El said.

At that moment, Jonathan pulled up to the driveway, waving and flashing his lights. El stood up and shrugged on her coat.

"El, are you mad at me?" Sylvia asked quietly.

"No," El said. "I understand." She gave Sylvia a hug, and whispered in her ear, _"Dustin's at the playground._ " With that, she rushed over to Jonathan's car and hopped in the passenger seat, smiling down at her hands as they pulled away from the house.


	14. Chapter 14

The playground was further away than Sylvia remembered - she was used to biking around Hawkins, not going by foot - and she worried that by the time she got there, Dustin would be long gone. But that didn't matter - she had to _try_ and make things right even if it turned out to be impossible.

She spotted two bikes parked by the side of the road, and peered through the dark until she found Dustin and Lucas sitting in the grass by the soccer field.

Noticing her approach, Lucas stood up, his fists clenched unconsciously, while Dustin kept his eyes on the ground.

"I thought I told you to leave us alone," Lucas muttered.

Sylvia shrugged nervously. "I know, I'm sorry, I just… um, I just need to talk to Dustin, for a second."

"Go away," Lucas spat out. "He doesn't want to talk to you."

"Lucas," Dustin interjected. "It's okay." He stood up and brushed the grass off his pant legs, finally looking over at Sylvia with what he hoped was a neutral and pleasant expression. "What do you want to talk about?"

Sylvia hesitated, smoothing down the front of her dress anxiously. She glanced at Lucas, who was still staring at her with his arms crossed, looking suspicious. Dustin gave Lucas a nudge.

"I'll see you tomorrow, alright?" he said.

Lucas nodded, pursing his lips. "Okay."

"And… thanks," Dustin said quietly. Lucas smiled slightly and walked over to his bike, hands in his pockets.

They watched him ride away, the silence of a Hawkins night swallowing them once again. Dustin kept his eyes trained away from Sylvia's face, sure that if he looked at her for too long he'd end up doing something really stupid.

Sylvia, in contrast, couldn't keep her eyes away from Dustin, keeping a careful watch for any sign of emotion, of a crack in the wall he seemed to have suddenly put up. Finally she broke the silence.

"Dustin, I'm really, really sorry."

He shrugged, mouth tugging down in a frown. "Don't worry about it."

She almost rolled her eyes. "Dustin. Come on."

He turned and stared at her. "Look, it's really not a big deal. You didn't want to kiss me and you got pressured into it. Let's just forget the whole thing and move on."

"Dustin, listen to me. That is not even close to what happened, okay?" She stepped in closer to him, looking at him with frustration in her eyes.

"Then what happened?" he challenged.

She huffed in irritation and looked up at the sky. "I didn't mean what I said. I just… I got embarrassed, or flustered, I guess. Christine was wrong, and I shouldn't have gone along with it. The truth is… I kissed you because I wanted to."

Dustin's eyes widened, but then his self-doubt got the better of him. He sat down on the grass and rubbed his eyes, trying to hide the tears that were leaking out. "That's a lie."

Sylvia crouched beside him, ignoring the way the wet, dewy grass scratched at her ankles and knees. "No it isn't!" she objected hotly.

"Why would you want to kiss me?" Dustin objected. "I'm Toothless Henderson and you're…" he gestured to her, looking hopeless.

She interrupted him. "And I'm Anorexia Davis!"

He glanced over at her, shocked, and she chuckled wryly. "You're not the only person who got a mean nickname from Christine Carly, you know."

He looked confused. "Why…"

She shrugged, feeling self-conscious. "Because I'm skinny, I guess? Who knows."

He frowned. "You're not _that_ skinny." Then he clapped a hand over his mouth, turning red. "I mean - ah - I mean -"

She giggled. "Well, _you're_ not that toothless."

This finally got him to crack a smile, and she felt a rush of relief. Maybe she would be able to get through to him.

"You have a nice smile, actually," she said shyly, inching closer to him while his face flushed. She hooked her pinky finger around his and tugged gently until he turned to look at her.

"We don't even need a bottle this time," she whispered, leaning towards him with a flirtatious grin.

Their lips were almost touching when Dustin pulled away, leaving Sylvia bewildered and more than a little disappointed.

"I… I don't think this is a good idea," Dustin said, shaking his head sadly. It seemed like it was killing him to say it.

Sylvia frowned, looking hurt. "Why?"

"Because…well, because you'll break my heart, okay?" he mumbled, his voice wavering slightly.

Sylvia stared at him blankly. "Why would I do that?"

He sighed. "Well, _obviously_ , I like you too much. I like you a lot more than you like me, and that's going to be a recipe for disaster."

She frowned and crossed her arms. "How do you know who likes who more?"

He looked at her sadly. "I just know."

"That's not an answer," she huffed.

"Okay, look," he said, and the emotion in his voice made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. "I'm not blaming you for what happened, and I know it's hard to stand up to someone like Christine. But the way I feel about you, it's like… you know, if _my_ friends were making fun of you, I would choose you over them every single time. I'd tell them to go screw themselves, I really would. _That's_ how I know."

Sylvia didn't know what to say at his confession. She felt a strange lump in her throat as if she were about to cry. She shook her head, trying to compose herself, trying to think of a counter argument, but her mind was numb.

"I think we're better off as friends right now," he whispered, and she could feel her heart splintering in her chest.

Dustin noticed that Sylvia was shivering. The grass had soaked the hem of her dress, and her arms were bare. He stood up and offered her his hand, helping her off the ground. "I should take you home. It's getting cold out here."

"Dustin…" she sighed, rolling her eyes. She wasn't done with this conversation, but she _was_ starting to feel chilled, and in the back of her mind she was worried about getting in trouble with her parents for staying out so late.

He smiled at her gently and gestured to the back of his bike. She hopped on gingerly, suddenly very self-conscious about where she put her hands.

They rode silently through the inky black streets, Dustin staring straight ahead and vowing not to waver in his decision, Sylvia trying to think of a way to change his mind. Sylvia wished he would slow down, but all too soon they arrived at her front door. She hopped off the bike and turned to face him.

The words she wanted so desperately to say were stuck inside her throat. He looked sad and wary and so stupidly resigned it made her want to kick him.

Dustin already felt like the world's biggest idiot, and when he saw the look in her eyes, that absolutely confirmed it. Here was Sylvia Davis, wanting to kiss him, acting like she was interested in him, and all he could do was turn her down. He knew he'd regret it the instant she walked away - he was already regretting it now - but he just couldn't force himself to take the risk, to make that jump. Sure, she wanted to be with him now, but what about tomorrow? Or Monday in school, when all her friends found out? He still couldn't get the sound of Christine's mocking laughter out of his head.

"Goodnight, Sylvia," he said. He knew if he stayed with her any longer, he'd probably end up changing his mind, what with the way her dark hair shone in the moonlight and how her lips parted in a slight, unconscious smile the moment she caught his eye.

"Dustin, I - " she began, but couldn't quite finish the thought. He shrugged, eyes downcast, and threw his leg back over the seat of his bike, riding away and leaving her speechless in front of her doorway.

The next day dawned grey and drizzly, and Joyce reminded El that one of her new responsibilities was to keep up with her schoolwork - and that meant staying home and working on pre-algebra even when all she wanted to do was to bike over to the Wheelers to talk to Mike. Joyce tried to get details about what had happened at the party the night before, but both Will and El had very little to say.

In English class on Monday, Mike glared at Sylvia when she sat down next to him in her usual seat. He'd spoken to Lucas on the super-com Sunday night, and he knew enough about what had happened at the party after he left to be upset.

The look in his eyes made her cringe and shrink into her chair. It was bad enough to think that she had screwed up her chance with Dustin, but the prospect of losing all her new friends on top of that was nearly unbearable. The worst thing was that she couldn't even blame Mike, or any of them - she'd messed up. She'd hurt one of the nicest people she'd ever met, just to stay in the good graces of a bully like Christine. Sylvia groaned and put her head in her hands. What had she been thinking?

"Yes, Miss Davis?" the teacher said, surprised.

She looked around, red-faced. "Um… I just… I wish Odysseus would just go home already, you know?"

The teacher chuckled. "Yes, well, I think Penelope also feels that way. Unfortunately, there are several more books left before that happens."

"Oh," Sylvia said, blushing and staring down at her book.

"As I was saying…" the teacher said, continuing his lesson while Sylvia tried to compose herself. She glanced at Mike, who seemed amused.

At lunch, Sylvia cautiously made her way over to the AV club's table. El had once again joined her friends instead of having lunch at home, so the whole gang was there.

"Um… is it okay if I sit here?" Sylvia mumbled shyly. The boys and El all looked at Dustin, who nodded, although he wasn't quite making eye contact. She smiled gratefully and sat down at the table.

Just then, Christine sauntered over, looking disgusted and amused.

"Sylvia, our table's over this way, come on." She jerked her head in the other direction and pulled on Sylvia's arm, but Sylvia wrenched herself away.

"Cut it out, Christine," Sylvia muttered, turning back to her plate of lukewarm mac and cheese.

"I don't think you understand," Christine said, her tone icy. "I want you to sit with me today. I thought I told you not to waste your time with these weirdos anymore."

"Don't call them that!" Sylvia snapped, making everyone - including Christine - jump. "They're my friends."

Christine chuckled. "That's so cute, they're you're friends." She gestured at Dustin. "Don't tell me, he's your boyfriend, now, right?" Her smile was mocking.

"So what if he is?" challenged Sylvia. Dustin turned red.

"You cannot be serious, Vi. It's social suicide. Nobody's gonna want to hang out with you after you've made out with _that_." She gestured at Dustin again, looking disgusted. El stood up, fury in her eyes, but Mike grabbed onto her wrist, trying to remind her that they were in a public place and she needed to be careful with her temper.

"Oh yeah? Well… Well…" Sylvia sputtered, trying to think of an appropriate response. "Well… GO SCREW YOURSELF, Christine Carly!"

The entire cafeteria turned and stared as Sylvia stomped over to where Dustin sat and gave him a big kiss on the lips. Kids began to hoot and holler but neither Sylvia nor Dustin paid them any attention.

El giggled and clapped along with everyone else, only taking a brief moment to covertly break the heel of Christine's right shoe, causing her to stumble to the floor and then hobble off in humiliation.

When Sylvia pulled away, it was hard to tell which one of them was blushing harder. Sylvia's formerly brazen confidence faltered for a moment.

"I'm sorry," she murmured. "I know you said you just wanted to be friends but…"

"You know what?" Dustin interrupted, grinning like a madman. "I changed my mind."

Then he kissed her again.

That afternoon, El and Mike were walking home from school when El asked the question that had been weighing on her for a while. "Mike, are you my boyfriend?"

Mike didn't know what to say. "Um… well… why do you ask?" he finally spit out, turning red.

El shrugged. "John asked if you were my boyfriend."

Mike's eyes narrowed suspiciously. This guy really needed to back off. "When did this happen?" he asked, trying to keep his tone neutral.

"At his party, after he tried to kiss me," El said, nonchalantly.

Mike stopped in his tracks and stared at her. "WHAT?" he yelled, clenching his fists.

"Did he hurt you? Did he try anything?" _That bastard…_

El shook her head, bewildered. "I said no, and he said sorry."

"Oh," Mike said, trying to get a handle on his emotions. "Good."

They walked in silence for a few moments, both trying to figure out what to say next.

"So, are you?" El asked, looking at him curiously.

Mike smiled and ran his thumb over her fingers. "Do you want me to be?"

She shrugged. "I don't know what it means."

Mike sighed, trying to think of a good explanation. "It's like a… promise."

"Promise?" That was a word she knew, a word that always reminded her of Mike.

"Like a promise that… we'll always care about each other, and tell each other everything, no matter what."

"Okay," El said, smiling brightly.

"And, like, it's a promise that we won't, you know…" he gestured to her lips, and then to his, "…with anyone else."

She thought for a moment or two. "Okay."

He turned and studied her face, unsure whether to bring up his concerns. He felt that he needed to, for her sake, even if it made him miserable. "But, El, are you sure… are you sure you are ready? You just started school. What if… what if you meet some guy, and you like him more than me?" He frowned.

She shook her head. "It won't happen."

He looked at her hesitantly. "But how do you know?"

She smiled at him and leaned up to kiss him on the lips. Then she giggled and tugged on his hand, pulling him down the street.

"Don't be a mouth-breather, boyfriend."

THE END


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